UMASS/AMHERST 


31EDbt.DDS311'^13 


ttBIIHIIIMMWHIMWIIimilll 


I 


\m  \\]\ 


if 


mm 


Farming 
In  America 


{ill 


pi' 


(JOSEPH   E.Wm<||g|| 


LIBRARY 


OF  THE 


MASSACHUSETTS 
AGRICULTURAL 


y^/-N1 


.--     /I  ^^ 

No.__ci.4    375 


SOURCE 


^ 


VI735 


l-k:A.V. 


CARD 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Boston  Library  Consortium  IVIember  Libraries 


http://www.archive.org/details/sheepfarminginamOOwing 


JOSEPH    E.  WING. 


Sheep  Farming 
In  America. 


® 


By  JOSEPH    E.  \A/ING, 
Staff  Correspondent  of  Thie  Breeder's  Gazette. 


® 


NEW  AND    REVISED    EDITION. 


(S) 


CHICAGO,   ILL.: 

Sanders  Publishing  Co. 

1909. 


Copyright,  1907, 
BY  SANDERS  PUBLISHING  CO. 

All  rights  reserved. 


CONTENTS 


Illustrations .11-12 

Introduction 13-19 

Introduction  to  Second  Edition 30 

CHAPTER   I. 

Fine-Wool  Breeds 21-31 

Merinos 22 

American  Merinos 25 

Delaine  Merinos  and  Black  Tops 25 

Rambouillets 26 

CHAPTER  II. 

Mutton  Breeds 32-61 

The  Downs — 

Southdowns 35 

Shropshires 37 

Hampshires 40 

Oxfords 41 

The  Long-Wools— 

Leicesters .42 

Cotswolds 45 

Lincolns 45 

Dorset  Horns 46 

The  Mountain  Breeds — 

Cheviots 49 

Black-f aces 50 

Tunis  and  Persian  Sheep 55 

CHAPTER   III. 

Cross-Breeding 63-71 

Cross-Breeding  for  the  Lamb  Market 67 

Cross-Breeding  in  Eastern  Pastures 69 

(5) 


6  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Selection  and  Management 72-106 

Restocking  a  Farm  with  Sheep 72 

Selection  of  the  Ram. 74 

Keeping  a  Tj^pe 77 

Fixing  Tjpe 82 

Renewed  Vitality  from  Fresh  Blood 86 

\  Vitality  the  Thing  to  Strive  for 87 

Selection  of  the  Ewes 88 

Getting  Home  with  the  Flock 90 

Importance  of  Dipping 90 

The  Scab  Germ 91 

The  Dipping  Vat 93 

Regular  Dipping  of  the  Farm  Flock 95 

Summary  of  Dipping 97 

Fall  Treatment  of  the  Ewe  Flock 97 

Mating 98 

Putting  in  the  Ram 100 

Management  of  the  Ram 100 

Care  of  the  I*regnant  Ewe 103 


CHAPTER   V. 

Care  op  the  Ewe  and  Young  Lamb 107-150 

The  Ewe  Barn 107 

Care  at  Lambing  Time 113 

Feeding  of  the  Ewe  After  Lambing 118 

Troubles  of  Young  Lambhood 122 

Sore  Mouth  and  Teats 123 

Feeding  the  Lambs 124 

Feeding  for  the  Market 128 

Dressing  Lambs  for  Fancy  Winter  Market 135 

Treatment  of  the  Late-born  Lambs 138 

Feeding  Corn  on  Grass 141 

Summer  Shade 142 

Marketing  the  Spring  Lamb 146 

Docking 147 

Castration  of  Old  Rams 148 

Castration  of  Lambs 148 

Weaning 149 


CONTPmTS.  7 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Summer  Care  and  Management  . 151-190 

The  Ewe  Flock 151 

A  System  of  Management  that  Insures  a  Healthy  Flock. .  .159 

Use  of  Sown  Pastures 168 

Oats  and  Alfalfa  Pasture 171 

Clover  and  Alfalfa  Pasture 172 

Danger  from  Clover  and  Alfalfa  Pasture 173 

The  Use  of  Rape 178 

Cabbages 179 

Pumpkins 180 

Care  of  the  Feet 182 

Foot-Rot  and  Foot-Scald 183 

Advent  of  Late  Lambs 185 

The  Lambing  Tent ; 186 

Fall  Lambs 188 

CHAPTER   Vn. 

Washing,  Shearing  and  Marking 191-205 

Washing  and  Shearing 193 

Shearing 193 

Shearing  Machines 195 

Marking 201 

The  Tattoo  Mark 202 

Marking  Pure-bred  Lambs 203 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Flock  Husbandry  in  the  Western  States 206-255 

New  Mexico 206 

Characteristics  of  Mexican  Sheep 207 

"  The  Good  Old  Times  "  in  New  Mexico. 209 

Modern  Management 210 

Diseases  of  the  Range 213 

Mexican  Lambs  as  Feeders 214 

The  Wandering  Herds « 215 

Waiting  for  Grass  to  Come 216 

The  Blood  of  the  Herds 218 

The  Division  of  the  Ranges 218 

Montana,  Wyoming  and  the  Dakotas. 219 

Parasitic  Infection  of  the  Ranges 220 


34505 


8  CONTENTS. 

Happy  Future  of  the  Region 220 

Management  of  the  Range  Rams 223 

Where  the  Rams  Come  From 224 

The  Breeding  Season 225 

Vigor  of  Ewes  and  Lambs 225 

The  Busy  Shepherd  at  Lambing  Time 226 

The  Coyote 226 

"  Trimming  "  the  Lambs , 228 

Shearing  on  the  Range. 230 

Dipping 230 

The  Maligned  "  Sheep  Herder  " 232 

Ups  and  Downs  of  the  Business 234 

The  Hopeful  Outlook 235 

A  Work  to  be  Done 237 

Sheep  Advance ;  Cattle  Retreat 238 

Winter  Feeding  of  Sheep  and  Lambs 238 

Necessity  for  Dipping 241 

Selection  of  Feeders 243 

Feeding  of  Lambs 255 

CHAPTER   IX. 

Western  Lamb  Feeding 256^07 

Pea  Feeding  in  Colorado 256 

Canadian  Peas  for  Lamb  Feeding 257 

Peas  in  the  San  Luis  Valley 258 

Amount  of  Lamb  Mutton  from  an  Acre  of  Peas 262 

Alfalfa-fed  Colorado  Lambs 264 

Feeding  Mill  Screenings 271 

Sheep-Feeding  in  the  Corn-Belt 272 

Use  of  Self-Feeders 291 

Feeding  Beet  Pulp .292 

Causes  of  Death  in  the  Feed-Lot 295 

Peas  for  Lambs 297 

The  Business  of  Lamb  Feeding 297 

Feeding  of  Older  Sheep 298 

Feeding  Mature  Wethers 298 

CHAPTER   X. 

The  Diseases  of  Sheep 308-342 

Ailments  in  General " 308 


CONTENTS.  ,  9 

Importance  of  Post-Mortem  Dissection 314 

Other  Diseases  of  Sheep 315 

Garget,  or  Mammitis 316 

Grubs  in  the  Head 319 

Liver  Fluke— "The  Rot" 320 

Nodular  Disease 321 

Tape  Worms 322 

Husk,  Hoose,  or  Parasitic  Bronchitis 323 

The  Stomach  Worm 324 

Symptoms  acd  Diagnosis 326 

Life  History  of  the  Stomach  Worm 327 

Methods  of  Preventing  Infection 329 

Treatment  for  Stomach  Worms 334 

Coal-Tar  Creosote 335 

Bluestone 336 

Gasoline 337 

Other  Remedies 337 

Start  with  a  Healthy  Flock 338 

CHAPTER    XI. 

The  Angoka  and  Milking  Goats 343-361 

The  Angora  Goat 343 

The  Milking  Goat. .357 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Joseph  E.  Wing Frontispiece. 

Two-year-old  Merino  Ram 23 

Yearling  Rambouillet  Ewes  in  France 27 

Photographic  Studies  in  Down  Types  of  Sheep 33 

Farm  Training  for  the  Show  Ring 38 

Lincoln  Rams 43 

Lincoln  Ewes 43 

Some  Ohio  Dorsets 47 

Cheviot  Ewes 58 

Group  of  Tunis  Sheep  on  an  Ohio  Farm 57 

A  Trio  of  Prize-Winning  Lincolns 61 

Dorset  Ewes 64 

Dipping  Sheep  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin 73 

Dipping  Plant 'J'5 

The  Champion  Ram  that  was  Not  Too  Good 79 

Rambouillet  Ram • .  •    •  ■  •  81 

Shropshire  Ewes  on  a  Canadian  Farm 83 

Black-faced  Rams _ 85 

Southdown  Ewes 108 

Delaine-Merino  Ram  Lambs Ill 

A  Bunch  of  Nebraska  Leicesters 117 

"Mary  Had  Five  Little  Lambs  " 125 

Dorset  Lambs  on  the  Way  to  Market 129 

An  English  "  Creep  " 134 

Ready  for  Market 136 

Merinos  Posed  for  a  Picture 139 

A  Carload  of  Yearling  Wethers 143 

In  an  Old  Country  Pasture 153 

Cotswold  Ewes •  •  ■  -157 

Studies  in  Sheep  Character 161 

Feeding  Lambs  on  a  Hillside  Pasture 169 

Yearling  Oxford  Ram 1'<'6 

Leicester  Ram 177 

Imported  Hampshire  Ram  Lambs 187 

(11) 


12  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Hand  Shearing  Machine 196 

Shearing  Black-faced  Sheep  in  Scotland 199 

Yearling  Oxford  Ram « 208 

Dishley  Merinos  in  France 211 

Black-faced  Sheep  in  the  Hills 217 

A  Kansas  Feeding  Yard,  Capacity  18,000  Sheep 221 

A  Sheep  Wagon  on  the  Range 227 

Lincoln  Shearlings , 229 

An  Illinois  Feeding  and  Shipping  Yard 231 

Suffolk  Ram ' 236 

A  Fine-wooled  Flock  on  a  Western  Farm 239 

Feeding  Corral,  with  Straight  Fence 245 

A  Show  of  Cotswolds 252 

Shropshire  Feeders  in  Colorado 25t 

Racks  for  Feeding  Grain 266 

Box  Rack  for  Feeding  Alfalfa 267 

Cross-section  of  Model  Sheep  Barn  Showing  Frame 273 

Side  View  of  Model  Sheep  Barn  Showing  Doors 274 

Two  Views  of  Feed  Rack 277 

Feeding  Corral,  with  Zigzag  Fence 281 

Sheep  Wagons 286 

A  Texas  Feeding  Yard 293 

A  Pair  of  Hampshire  Lambs 300 

At  a  Royal  English  Show 301 

Lincolns  in  the  Show  Ring 305 

An  Angora  Goat  Show 345 


INTRODUCTION, 


The  traveler  in  England,  Scotland  and  parts 
of  France  and  Germany  is  impressed  by  the 
importance  of  the  sheep  industry  to  these  lands. 
Sheep  farms  are  often  found  close  together  and 
of  large  size  with  great  numbers  of  sheep  there- 
on. The  writer  has  stood  on  one  hill  in  Dorset- 
shire and  counted  eight  shepherds,  each  with 
his  flock  of  about  400  ewes  and  their  lambs,  in 
sight  at  one  time.  Nearby,  in  an  adjoining 
county,  flocks  of  Hampshires  exist  as  large  as 
2,500  on  farms  of  not  above  1,400  acres  of  not 
extra  soil.  These  flocks  are  very  profitable  and 
they  make  rich  soils  that  without  the  sheep 
would  be  hardly  worth  cultivating.  They  ex- 
ist in  wonderful  health  and  vigor  on  lands  that 
have  been  sheeped  since  civilization  peopled  the 
land.  In  Scotland  and  the  Cheviot  hills  flocks 
exist  over  the  entire  land  and  without  sheep 
the  land  would  almost  lapse  into  wilderness.  In 
France  on  lands  worth  $250.00  per  acre  great 
flocks  of  mutton  sheep  are  kept.  The  agricul- 
ture of  these  countries  leans  strongly  on  the 
sheep.  Long  experience  in  maintaining  fertil- 
ity, in  creating  it,  has  taught  the  farmers  that 
without  the  flocks  they  can  not  continue  profit- 
able agriculture.  Sheep  fit  in  well  to  an  in- 
tensive system  of  agriculture.    They  are  docile, 

(13) 


14  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

tractable,  easily  kept  within  bounds,  not  fastid- 
ious in  their  appetites  but  willing  to  devour 
most  weeds  along  with  the  good  forage,  and 
they  leave  behind  them  a  wake  of  fruitful  soil. 

In  America  sheep  farming  is  little  understood. 
8heep  are  kept  in  a  more  or  less  desultory  man- 
ner, having  the  run  of  some  hill  pasture  or 
woodland,  fed  at  intervals  in  winter,  sold  off 
when  prices  become  low,  bought  up  again  with 
the  return  of  higher  prices,  given  small  care 
or  encouragement,  often  afflicted  with  parasites, 
internal  and  external,  a  side  issue  with  the  farm- 
er, profitable  in  spite  of  his  neglect,  yet  not  often 
assuming  the  dignity  of  a  business  of  them- 
selves. There  are  several  reasons  for  this  state. 
It  is  in  part  a  heritage  of  the  days  when  sheep 
were  little  valued  for  their  flesh  and  were  kept 
mainly  for  their  fleeces.  It  is  in  part  a  result 
of  our  once  cheap  lands  and  insufficient  labor 
with  which  to  till  them.  And  in  large  part  it 
is  because  of  ignorance  of  profitable  methods. 
When  sheep  thrive  their  owners  gladly  reap 
the  profits ;  when  they  become  diseased  and  un- 
profitable it  is  usually  charged  to  ^'bad  luck." 
There  need  be  small  element  of  luck  or  chance 
in  sheep  management.  There  is  always  a  rea- 
son for  thrift  and  for  unthrift  in  the  flock.  There 
need  rarely  be  any  disease  in  the  flock.  A 
healthy  sheep  is  certain  to  be  a  profitable  one. 

There  is  at  this  time  good  reason  for  think- 
ing seriously  of  these  problems  of  sheep  hus- 
bandry because  of  the  increase  in  mutton  con- 
sumption and  the  curious  parallel  fact  that 
the  production  is  decreasing.     April  1,  1903, 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

saw  about  39,204,000  sheep  shorn;  April,  1904, 
about  38,342,000,  or  nearly  a  million  less.  It  is 
probable  that  this  decrease  has  been  checked, 
though  there  has  been  no  decided  change  in 
conditions  and  comparatively  little  re-stocking 
of  Eastern  farms.  Sheep  are  essentially  today 
dwellers  of  the  range,  the  mountain  and  the 
desert.  Montana  has  the  largest  number  of 
sheep,  5,576,000 ;  Wyoming  has  3,800,000 ;  New 
Mexico,  3,150,000;  Idaho,  2,300,000 ;  Ohio,  2,033,- 
000;  Utah,  2,025,000;  Oregon,  2,000,000;  Cali- 
fornia, 1,625,000;  Texas,  1,440,000;  Colorado, 
1,300,000;  Michigan,  1,200,000;  Pennsylvania, 
850,000 ;  New  York,  675,000 ;  Washington,  560,- 
000;  Nevada,  600,000;  Arizona,  620,000;  Indi- 
ana, 700,000,  and  all  other  states  below  600,000 
each.  It  will  be  seen  that  in  comparison  with 
the  ranges  the  states  make  rather  a  small  show- 
ing in  the  sheep  industry,  Ohio  and  Michigan 
excepted.  The  fact  of  free  grass  upon  the 
Western  ranges  and  the  general  healthfulness 
of  flocks  in  that  arid  region  have  had  a  deterring 
influence  upon  the  sheep  industry  in  the  old 
farming  states.  Now,  however,  that  the  ranges 
seem  unable  to  supply  the  mutton  that  is  de- 
manded by  our  consumers  it  is  time  to  forget 
their  menace  and  to  take  up  again  our  old  trade 
of  shepherding  on  our  Eastern  farms. 

There  are  several  excellent  reasons  why  this 
is  a  rational  and  promising  industry  in  which 
to  embark.  The  ranges  are  now  fully  stocked 
with  cattle  and  sheep.  To  increase  the  num- 
bers of  sheep  means  to  drive  out  more  cattle 
and  this  the  cattle  men  are  resisting  by  armed 


16  SHEEP  FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

force.  On  many  of  the  drier  ranges  the  sheep 
have  overpastured  the  grass  till  much  of  it  has 
been  destroyed  root  and  branch  and  thus  its 
carrying  power  is  much  decreased.  Settlers  are 
taking  the  land  in  every  irrigable  valley  and 
fencing  it  and  there  is  thus  in  every  way  a 
steady  diminution  in  the  numbers  of  sheep  on 
the  ranges.  Nor  can  it  be  seen  how  this  may  be 
checked  and  their  numbers  made  to  increase,  see- 
ing that  alfalfa  forms  almost  the  sole  forage 
grown  in  the  arid  region,  and  this  is  not  a  crop 
suited  to  careless  grazing  of  large  bands  of 
sheep  by  hireling  herders. 

Consider  again  that  the  prejudice  that  at  one 
time  existed  against  mutton  eating  has  almost 
died  away.  The  cities  are  eating  all  the  mutton 
that  they  can  get  and  are  paying  for  it  much 
more  than  they  are  paying  for  beef  or  pork. 
There  are  doubtless  several  excellent  reasons 
for  this.  Fashion  is  one.  The  fact  that  crowds 
of  our  people  visit  England  every  year  leads 
them  to  form  the  ^Mamb  chop"  habit.  Mutton 
is  better  fattened  and  prepared  than  formerly. 
There  is  offered  a  very  much  greater  supply  of 
lamb  mutton  than  of  mutton  from  old  sheep,  and 
that  helps.  Then  the  old-time  type  of  small, 
wrinkly,  thin-fleshed  sheep  has  about  disap- 
peared and  that  helps.  There  is  a  demand  for 
lambs  from  babyhood  up  to  a  year  of  age,  well 
fattened;  there  is  demand  for  mature  mutton. 
Whether  the  packers  have  or  have  not  con- 
trolled the  price  of  beef  they  have  not  been  able 
or  desirous  of  keeping  down  the  price  of  mutton. 
For  ten  years  feeders  of  lambs  have  prospered 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

exceedingly,  with  occasional  discouragements, 
and  there  is  no  prospect  of  the  production  of 
good,  well-finished  mutton  being  overdone  for 
some  years  to  come.  It  can  not  be  overdone  until 
one  of  two  things  happens,  either  the  American 
people  must  come  into  calamitous  days  or  a 
great  number  of  farmers  must  turn  shepherds 
and  learn  the  business  from  the  ground  up. 
Neither  of  these  things  will  happen  soon.  Sheep 
husbandry  is  not  difticult  but  it  requires  close  at- 
tention to  details  and  that  we  will  not  many  of  us 
give.  The  few  who  will  patiently  learn  the  art 
will  therefore  prosper  the  more  exceedingly. 

It  is  a  cheerful  thought  to  look  forward  to  the 
day  when  well  kept,  happy  flocks  will  abound  in 
our  land.  Then  weeds  will  disappear  to  be  re- 
placed by  luxuriant  grass  and  forage  crops. 
Then  trim  fields,  each  with  its  appropriate  green 
growth,  will  be  dotted  with  snowy-fleeced  ewes 
and  plump,  rollicking  lambs,  each  one  a  picture 
of  health  and  thrift;  shepherds'  neat  cottages 
will  shelter  an  intelligent  and  thrifty  class  of 
farm  laborers,  great  piles  of  manure  will  be  ac- 
cumulated in  winter  time  to  replenish  the  old 
fields,  the  farm  boys  will  find  enough  to  do  and 
sufficient  encouragement  for  doing  it  and  will 
remain  on  the  farms  and  then  agriculture  will 
be  truly  an  upbuilding,  a  creation  of  fertility  and 
farms  where  now  there  is  little  of  profit  left  to 
country  dwellers. 

Let  no  one  imagine,  however,  that  these  bless- 
ings follow  the  mere  fact  of  buying  a  flock  and 
placing  it  upon  the  farm.  '^  Sheep  are  ever  an 
unhappy  flock,"  remarked  an  old  Roman  agri- 


18  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

culturist,  and  in  no  other  stock  can  the  ignorant 
or  heedless  farmer  have  so  great  a  variety  of 
misfortunes  as  with  the  sheep.  Few  of  these 
troubles  are  unavoidable.  It  is  to  point  the  way 
to  success  and  to  indicate  the  rough  places  that 
this  little  book  is  written. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  a  great  change  has 
come  over  country  life.  The  old  intimacy  be- 
tween the  farmer  and  his  men,  the  farmer  and 
his  fields,  the  farmer  and  his  animals,  has  .to 
an  extent  gone,  perhaps  forever.  Nevertheless, 
the  farmer  who  undertakes  to  keep  sheep  with 
profit  must  go  back  to  the  ways  of  his  fathers 
and  his  boyhood,  he  must  cultivate  an  acquaint- 
ance with  the  individuals  in  his  flock,  must 
learn  to  know  instantly  by  sight  whether  or 
no  they  are  in  health,  must  have  their  confi- 
dence so  that  he  can  without  much  trouble  catch 
them  afield,  by  aid  of  the  shepherd's  crook  or 
a  bit  of  salt  or  a  handful  of  shelled  corn.  For- 
tunately this  intimacy  is  a  delight  as  well  as  a 
source  of  profit.  *^The  eye  of  the  Master  fat- 
tens the  flock."  Hired  shepherds  may  be  faith- 
ful, but  they  need  the  suggestions  and  the  in- 
spiration that  come  from  wise  co-operation  of 
the  employer.  Best  of  all  shepherds  are  the 
men  who  own  the  sheep.  It  is  a  delightful  oc- 
cupation and  one  that  interests  the  young. 
There  is  room  for  labor,  for  thought,  for  growth 
in  this  work.  Some  of  the  happiest  hours  and 
most  helpful  the  author  has  ever  known  have 
been  spent  in  working  among  his  ewes  and 
lambs,  or  seated  beneath  a  tree  watching  them 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

graze  in  the  cool  of  the  evening  or  seeing  the 
lambs  scamper  np  and  down  the  hillsides. 

Strong  men  have  come  from  tending  sheep. 
Young  David  watched  his  father's  flocks  and 
in  his  zeal  slew  the  lion  and  the  bear  that  would 
have  destroyed  them.  Gazing  from  his  hill 
ranges  afar  out  over  the  land  he  learned  to  love 
it  well,  so  that  the  day  came  when  he  emerged 
from  the  solitude  of  the  sheep  pastures  to  be  the 
one  who  should  redeem  Israel  from  bondage. 
Let  us  hope  that  in  our  own  times  young  men 
may  be  found  who  while  working  with  the  gentle 
ewes  and  innocent  lambs  may  from  these  scenes 
of  peace  absorb  sufficient  love  of  home,  country 
and  native  land  that  they  may  come  forth  strong 
to  help  in  the  redemption  and  upbuilding  of  their 
own  country.  • 


20  SHEEP   FARMING    IN  AMERICA. 


INTRODUCTION  TO  SECOND  EDITION. 


Since  this  book  was  first  put  out  a  good  deal 
has  been  learned  concerning  practical  sheep 
management.  The  problem  of  the  internal 
parasite,  that  terror  that  devastated  eastern 
flocks,  has  been  nearly  solved,  and  the  author 
has  had  the  pleasure  of  presenting  in  this  sec- 
ond edition  a  plan  of  flock  management  that  will 
surely  avoid  the  disasters  that  follow  in  the 
trail  of  the  insiduous  foe  and  insure  keeping  a 
flock  in  beautiful  health  and  vigor. 

Of  a  life  somewhat  filled  with  work  and 
thought,  the  writer  feels  that  this  is  his  chief 
fruit  and  it  cheers  him  to  think  that  perhaps  he 
may  be  able  to  cause  fine,  healthy,  happy  flocks 
to  grow  where  none  grow  now,  or,  worse,  where 
sickly  and  unhappy  sheep  are. 

Of  a  multitude  of  friends  the  writer  feels  that 
the  ones  nearest  his  heart  are  the  grave  and 
careful  shepherds  who,  loving  their  flocks  bet- 
ter than  their  ease,  make  little  lambs  to  grow 
and  play,  unafraid,  who  lead  their  sheep  safely 
and  feed  them  wisely,  and  who  themselves  are 
led  by  their  life  of  solicitous  care  nearer  the 
good  Shepherd  of  us  all. 


CHAPTER   I 


THE  FINE-WOOL  BREEDS. 

It  is  not  thought  worth  while  to  present  here 
extensive  accounts  of  the  various  breeds  of 
sheep ;  however,  some  mention  must  be  made  of 
the  characteristics  pertaining  to  each.  Breeds 
originate  from  environment,  from  peculiar 
characters  of  soil  and  vegetation  and  climate, 
and  from  the  mental  idiosyncrasies  of  the  breed- 
ers themselves.  Each  breed  has  its  own  particu- 
lar field  where  it  serves  best  a  certain  purpose. 
For  all  that,  breeds  are  somewhat  flexible  and 
several  have  a  wide  range  of  adaptability.  Con- 
ditions of  market  and  of  environment  make  some 
breeds  more  profitable  than  others  in  certain 
locations.  What  would  pay  best  on  the  range,  in 
some  remote  state  where  wool  by  its  cheap  trans- 
portation brings  the  major  share  of  profit, 
might  not  pay  so  well  in  near  proximity  to  large 
cities  where  the  demand  is  for  quick-maturing 
mutton.  Inversely,  sheep  are  not  suited  to 
range  conditions  that  are  not  good  shearers, 
good  to  ' '  herd, ' '  that  is,  having  the  mental  trait 
that  makes  them  stay  close  together  and  an 
ability  to  withstand  occasional  times  of  starva- 
tion.    On  the  farm  the  ability  to  live  through 

(21) 


22  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

hard  winters  on  sparse  allowance  of  food  is 
not  a  qualification  worth  taking  into  account. 

MERINO  SHEEP. 

Probably  the  oldest  races  of  domesticated 
sheep  are  the  various  families  of  Merinos. 
Most  they  have  felt  the  moulding  hand  of  man, 
most  they  seem  to  diverge  from  any  wild  type 
of  which  we  have  knowledge.  Very  likely  Meri- 
nos were  kept  in  Palestine  during  bible  times 
and  it  may  be  that  King  David  when  a  lad 
watched  beside  a  flock  of  Merinos.  Under  the 
hand  of  man  they  have  suffered  a  degeneration 
in  form,  not  being  as  hardy,  as  vigorous  or 
full  of  stamina  as  any  wild  race  of  sheep  now 
in  existence.  What  they  have  lost  in  form  and 
vigor  they  have  gained  in  fleece.  The  wool  of 
the  Merino  is  the  finest  and  for  many  purposes 
easily  the  best  in  the  world.  It  should  com- 
mand the  highest  price  and  usually  does.  Meri- 
no breeders  in  the  Eastern  states,  however,  must 
compete  with  producers  of  wool  in  remote  and 
semi-savage  lands,  Australia,  Argentina,  Pata- 
gonia, the  Falkland  Islands  and  parts  of  our 
own  great  West. 

Breeders  of  Merino  sheep  have  followed 
many  fashions  and  some  that  were  their  undo- 
ing. At  one  time  the  aim  was  to  secure  a  fleece 
of  extreme  fineness,  though  by  this  course  was 
secured  a  sheep  of  little  stamina  and  of  small 
value  for  mutton  production.  Again  the  aim 
sought  was  an  excessive  amount  of  oil  or  ^'yolk" 
in  the  fleece,  which  made  it  heavier.  This  weak- 
ened the  sheep,  made  it  sensitive  to  cold  weather 


FINE-WOOT.   BREEDS. 


23 


and,  curiously  enough,  as  the  weight  of  yolk  in- 
creased in  the  wool,  manufacturers  kept  apace 
of  the  fact  in  buying,  and  by  paying  for  it  on  a 
scoured  basis  there  was  nothing  at  all  gained  to 
the  grower  who  sold  the  excessive  amount  of 
grease.  A  manufacturer  once  related  to  the 
writer  how  in  the  palmy  days  of  heavy  fleeces  a 


TWO-YEAR-OLD  MERINO  RAM. 

celebrated  ram's  fleece  was  brought  to  him  to  be 
scoured ;  it  weighed  45  lbs.,  was  probably  of  18 
or  24  months'  growth  and  made  less  than  12  lbs. 
of  scoured  wool !  The  farmer  then  had  wasted 
food  enough  to  produce  more  than  30  lbs.  of  a 
product  of  no  utility  whatever;  in  fact,  being 
only  a  drain  on  the  strength  of  the  animal  that 


24  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

produced  it.  It  is  of  course  essential  that  wool 
should  have  a  sufficient  amount  of  this  yolk  to 
preserve  the  fiber ;  more  than  this  is  a  damage  in 
every  way. 

It  would  seem  that  now  the  fads  in  Merino 
sheep  have  nearly  disappeared  and  the  breeders 
at  the  present  time  are  breeding  useful  Merinos, 
with  generally  more  size  and  better  forms  and 
more  of  mutton  quality  than  was  once  seen. 

The  importance  of  the  Merino  breed  will  be 
recognized  when  it  is  remembered  that  about 
22,000,000  of  the  sheep  of  the  United  States  are 
of  Merino  foundation.  The  Merino  is  the  sheep 
of  the  range  country,  hardy  in  large  herds,  of 
long  life,  though  of  slow  maturity,  able  to  with- 
stand more  of  ''grief"  than  the  mutton  breeds, 
and,  most  important  to  the  ranchmen,  holding 
their  fieeces  to  quite  an  age,  whereas'under  range 
conditions  mutton  breeds  soon  become  light 
shearers.  However,  it  is  not  now  believed  among 
Western  ranchmen  that  the  Merino  should  be 
bred  pure  for  their  purpose.  They  use  large 
numbers  of  mutton  rams  and  aim  to  keep  in  all 
their  ewes  a  strain  of  mutton  blood,  from  %  to 
14,  which  they  find  makes  the  ewes  better  moth- 
ers, being  more  prolific  and  having  a  stronger 
milk  flow.  Lambs  from  such  ewes,  sometimes 
from  pure-bred  mutton  rams,  form  the  major 
part  of  the  supplies  received  in  our  great  mark- 
ets from  August  till  June.  A  flock  of  ewes  from 
Merino  mothers  and  a  good  sire  of  one  of  the 
mutton  breeds  are  almost  ideal  for  use  upon  the 
farm,  hardy,  healthy,  great  milkers,  good  shear- 
ers.    When  a^ain  topped  by  a  blocky,  mutton- 


FINE-WOOL    BREEDS.  25 

bred  sire  they  produce  lambs  that  are  hard  to 
excel 

AMERICAN  MERINOS. 

There  are  a  number  of  families  of  Merinos. 
The  American  breeders  divide  them  into  three 
general  classes— the  Spanish  or  American  Me- 
rino, the  smallest  in  size  and  heaviest  in  fleece  of 
any;  these  sheep  were  once  excessively  wrin- 
kled (wool  grows  upon  wrinkles,  thus  the  wool- 
bearing  capacity  is  increased).  They  usually 
have  a  considerable  amount  of  yolk  in  the  wool, 
though  by  no  means  the  excessive  amount  that 
was  once  common.  During  recent  years  the 
American  Merino  has  undergone  quite  an  evolu- 
tion, obedient  to  the  command  of  its  breeders, 
and  has  a  better  developed  leg,  a  stronger  back, 
a  better  sprung  rib,  more  vigor  and  stamina  than 
before  and  has,  I  think,  lost  little  in  fleece-bear- 
ing powers. 

The  American  Merinos  are  the  most  highly 
specialized  of  all  sheep,  their  wool  being  best 
and  most  abundant.  Their  breeders  do  not 
claim  that  they  are  mutton  sheep,  though  they 
do  make  good  mutton ;  but  not  so  profitably  as 
some  lighter  shearing  breeds. 

DELAINE  MERINOS  AND  BLACK  TOPS. 

These  two  families  have  been  bred  by  selec- 
tion from  the  original  Spanish ;  the  Black  Tops 
from  the  importation  of  1802,  the  Delaines  from 
the  Black  Top  foundation,  with  some  outcrosses 
of  other  Merino  blood.  The  idea  in  developing 
these  two  families  has  been  to  secure  a  larger 
sheep  than  the  original  Merino,  a  better  feeder,  a 


26  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

hardier  sheep  and  with  a '  ^  Delaine ' '  wool.  This 
wool  should  have  parallel  fibers  of  sufficient 
length  for  combing  purposes.  There  is  unques- 
tionable merit  in  tliese  sheep  and  in  the  hands  of 
some  breeders  they  approach  closely  to  the  mut- 
ton type  without  losing  their  valuable  fleeces. 
Delaines  are  hardy,  healthy  when  rightly  man- 
aged, their  ]ambs  from  mutton  sires  are  supe- 
rior for  the  market  and  a  well  managed  flock  of 
either  Delaines  or  Black  Tops  has  never  been 
unprofitable.  The  name  ^' Black  Top"  was 
given  by  the  originator  of  the  type  because  his 
best  sheep  had  a  dark  crust  on  the  outside  of  the 
fleece  composed  of  oil  and  dirt  this  crust  keep- 
ing out  weather  and  serving  to  shelter  the  sheep. 
It  is  doubtful,  however,  if  sheep  should  be  re- 
quired to  carry  shelter  from  rain  on  their  backs. 

EAMBOUILLETS. 

Nearly  two  centuries  ago  the  French  govern- 
ment began  importing  Merino  ewes  from  Spain 
and  then  was  laid  the  foundation  of  the  breed 
that  is  called  the  ^'French  Merino,''  or  '^Ram- 
bouillet,"  after  the  village  in  France  where  the 
stud  flock  has  been  kept.  With  different  feeds, 
different  ideals  and  selection,  the  breed  has  be- 
come quite  different  from  the  other  families  of 
Merinos,  having  much  greater  size  and  a  differ- 
ent type  of  wool,  with  coarser  fiber,  though  yet 
a  Merino  wool. 

The  Rambouillet  is  perhaps  the  most  popular 
today  of  all  the  Merinos,  great  numbers  being 
found  on  the  Western  ranges  where  there  are 
also  great  breeding  establishments.     Here  thou- 


BHft,'^" 

Kl 

> 

Q 
> 

M 

■"^^^fl 

BMII^M^gw     - ,    1 

o 

■ 

-^^^^^V'>    ^^^■n^^l 

B 

FINE-WOOL   BREEDS.  29 

sands  of  pure-bred  rams  are  grown.  Fashions 
change  even  on  the  ranges  and  at  present  there 
is  inquiry  for  Delaines,  and  many  rams  of  mixed 
Delaine  and  Rambouillet  blood  are  used,  besides 
some  with  an  infusion  of  the  blood  of  the  Ameri- 
can Merino.  Rambouillets  are  truly  wonderful 
sheep,  of  great  size  and  unlimited  capacity  to 
consume  food.  With  a  top  of  mutton  rams  they 
produce  great  lambs  or  make  superb  wethers. 

Rambouillets  have  been  grown  profitably  for 
50  years  in  Ohio.  There  are  indeed  some  farms 
that  have  been  stocked  with  these  sheep  continu- 
ously for  that  length  of  time,  which  is  unusual 
in  America.  In  recent  years  the  breed  has  been 
considerably  improved  by  fresh  importations 
and  by  careful  matings,  so  that  both  form  and 
fleece  are  better  than  formerly.  The  Eastern 
Rambouillet  growers  have  for  some  years  en- 
;joyed  a  very  profitable  trade  in  rams  which  they 
have  sent  to  the  Western  ranges.  However, 
the  large  Western  breeders  are  absorbing  much 
of  that  trade  of  late,  so  that  only  the  choicest 
rams  are  in  demand  for  Western  shipments.  A 
good  flock  of  Rambouillets  will  pay  for  their 
wool  and  mutton,  and  Rambouillet  ewes  make  a 
most  admirable  basis  for  a  cross-bred  flock. 

Rambouillet  and  Delaine  Merino  ewes  have 
the  ability  to  conceive  early  and  drop  their 
lambs  in  the  fall  or  winter.  Many  Rambouillet 
breeders  make  a  practice  of  lambing  as  many  of 
their  ewes  as  possible  in  the  fall  and  early  win- 
ter months,  thus  getting  the  young  things  for- 
ward to  a  good  state  of  growth  and  development 
before  spring  and  summer  come  to  bring  their 


30  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

problems  of  management.  The  early  lamb  is 
often  worth  double  the  late  one,  because  of  the 
superior  healthfulness  and  vigor  of  the  early 
born  that  escape  the  troubles  of  parasitism,  so 
distressing  to  those  of  late  birth. 

This  habit  of  early  yeaning  also  comes  in  good 
hand  when  the  Merino  ewes  are  used  as  mothers 
for  cross-bred  "hot  house"  lambs,  and  many 
growers  of  these  winter  lambs  use  Merino  moth- 
ers though  the  half-blood  Merino  ewe  is  better. 
In  truth  she  is  near  to  perfection  for  this  pur- 
pose. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  many  old  men  suc- 
ceed fairly  well  with  Merinos  who  can  not  make 
mutton  sheep  thrive  at  all.  The  Merino  will 
withstand  more  neglect  than  the  English  breeds. 
It  will  endure  fairly  well  a  winter  ration  of 
bright  straw  and  a  little  added  grain  with  the 
run  of  a  hill  pasture.  Formerly  thousands 
were  wintered  on  pasture  with  no  feeding  at  all 
throughout  the  hill  regions  of  Ohio  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. It  was  thought  that  if  they  had  access 
to  hazel  brush  where  they  might  shelter  and 
browse  a  little  and  the  grass  was  not  too  closely 
cropped  in  fall  they  would  do  well  enough. 
Treated  in  this  manner  they  must  lamb  late  in 
the  spring,  and  they  do  survive  and  shear  quite 
good  fleeces,  whereas  any  breed  of  mutton  sheep, 
so  poorly  fed  would  hardly  show  any  profit  at 
all. 

It  is  often  quite  difficult  for  men  who  have 
spent  years  of  their  lives  growing  Merinos  un- 
der the  let-alone,  outdoor  system  to  take  another 
breed  and  make  it  thrive  at  all.     They  can  not 


FINE-WOOL    BREEDS.  31 

bring  themselves  to  give  the  feed,  shelter  and  at- 
tention that  the  English  breeds  demand. 
And  with  Merinos,  kindness  and  care  are  usu- 
ally well  repaid.  There  are  hill  regions  where 
the  flock  may  be  out  of  doors  almost  the  whole 
year,  but  the  grazing  should  be  supplemented 
by  a  regular  allowance  of  grain  or  early-cut 
hay,  and  it  is  well  if  the  flock  can  be  sheltered 
from  chilling  winter's  rains. 


CHAPTER  II. 


MUTTON  BREEDS. 

All  of  our  breeds  excepting  the  Merinos  and 
the  Tunis  come  from  England.  There  the  pe- 
culiar character  of  the  country  and  the  mental 
traits  of  the  people  have  united  to  create  a  num- 
ber of  breeds,  each  having  its  especial  excel- 
lence for  a  certain  purpose  and  soil.  The  Eng- 
lishman's ideal  in  animal  form  runs,  as  it  does 
in  architecture,  to  the  square,  the  level,  the 
rectangular.  His  sheep,  his  beef  cattle  and  his 
swine  all  partake  of  the  same  characteristics  in 
form.  To  successfully  judge  Merino  sheep  one 
must  be  a  student  of  the  breed ;  to  judge  the  mut- 
ton breeds  practically  well  one  need  only  to  know 
what  is  a  good  animal,  after  the  model  of  the 
Angus  cow  or  the  Berkshire  hog.  Add  the  wool 
and  certain  fancy  points,  such  as  the  covering  of 
wool  over  the  head,  the  size  and  set  of  ear,  the 
shape  of  nose  and  the  coloring  and  all  is  told. 
The  novice  in  sheep  breeding,  if  he  knows  An- 
gus cattle  or  Berkshire  or  Poland-China  swine, 
need  have  no  hesitation  in  attempting  to  select 
a  flock  of  breeding  ewes  if  he  can  see  them  with- 
out their  fleeces.  In  fact,  the  owner  will  betray 
his  consternation  before  the  novice  has  selected 

(32) 


MUTTON   BREEDS,  85 

half  a  dozen  and  remark,  "You  may  not  know 
much  about  sheep  but  I  can't  let  you  select  from 
my  flock." 

The  English  breeds  are  naturally  divided  into 
classes  of  Downs,  Long-Wools  and  Mountain 
breeds. 

THE  DOWNS. 

In  the  south  of  England  is  a  chain  of  chalky 
hills,  covered  with  tine,  short  grass.  Since  his- 
tory began  there  has  been  on  these  hills  a  race 
of  short-wooled  sheep;  in  their  early  history, 
with  horns.  From  this  old  type  has  come  the 
Southdown,  the  Hampshire  Down,  the  Sussex, 
Oxford,  Shropshire  Downs  and  the  Dorset 
horned. 

SOUTHDOWNS. 

This  sheep  is  a  striking  illustration  of  what 
the  genius  of  man  can  do.  Before  the  day  of 
George  the  Third  the  unimproved  Downs  of  Sus- 
sex were  ^'of  small  size  and  bad  shape,  long  in 
neck,  low  at  both  ends,  light  in  shoulder,  narrow 
at  the  fore  end,  and  shaped  like  a  soda  water 
bottle,  «mall  in  front  and  heavier  in  the  middle ; 
large  of  bone,  but  boasting  a  big  leg  of  mutton. 
The  fleece  was  not  so  close  and  firm  as  now." 

Once  the  Southdown  was  horned  but  now 
there  is  seldom  a  scur  to  remind  you  of  the  past. 
Today  the  breed  is  one  of  the  most  perfectly 
formed  breeds  in  existence.  The  size  is  but 
medium  to  small,  but  so  compact  and  thick- 
fleshed  are  these  sheep  and  so  close  to  the  ground 
that  their  weights  astonish  those  who  are  un- 
acquainted with  the  breed.     The  Southdown  has 


36  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

a  straight  back^  a  thick,  muscular  neck,  bespeak- 
ing vitality,  a  well  sprung  rib,  giving  a  rotundity 
of  form  and  a  well  filled  leg  of  mutton.  The 
character  of  the  mutton  is  of  the  best,  being  fine- 
grained, well  marbled  with  fat  and  lean  and 
tender,  sweet  and  juicy.  The  wool  is  short, 
thick,  elastic,  of  excellent  quality,  though  not  so 
abundant  as  in  some  breeds.  Southdowns  are 
very  vigorous,  hardy,  ambitious,  good  foragers, 
good  feeders,  always  fat  if  given  opportunity, 
more  easily  kept  in  health  than  some  breeds  and 
the  rams  are  excellent  for  cross  breeding,  espec- 
ially where  early  lambs  are  desired. 

There  are  not  so  many  breeders  of  South- 
downs  in  America  as  the  merit  of  the  breed 
would  deserve.  It  is  one  of  the  easiest  of  all 
breeds  to  maintain  in  high-class  condition. 
There  is  little  tendency  toward  deterioration, 
though  there  is  great  difficulty  in  bringing  about 
change  or  improvement  in  type.  This  is  no 
doubt  owing  in  part  to  the  fact  that  the  breed  is 
absolutely  pure,  no  admixture  or  infusion  of 
other  blood  having  ever  taken  place.  Therefore, 
there  is  less  variation  of  type  and  it  is  easier  to 
have  a  flock  of  Southdowns  of  uniform  appear- 
ance and  character  than  of  most  breeds.    . 

In  Sussex  the  author  has  studied  Southdown 
management  on  their  native  sod  and  observed 
these  features  of  their  practice.  Dry  ewes  in 
summer  time  were  often  grazed  on  the  hill  pas- 
tures, but  under  the  care  and  observation  of 
shepherds  at  least  part  of  every  day.  Ewes 
suckling  lambs  were  in  hurdles  eating  sowed 
crops  of  clovers,  vetches  and  grass,  with  a  little 


MUTTON  BREEDS.  37 

bite  of  grain,  while  the  lambs  ''ran  forward'' 
in  other  hurdle-enclosed  bits  of  grazing.  As 
protection  against  sun  the  lambs  had  small 
squares  of  canvas  stretched  over  the  corners  of 
their  pen.  The  lambs  got  a  full  allowance  of 
''corn  and  cake ;"  that  is,  grain  with  broken  lin- 
seed oil  cake  which  is  much  fed  in  that  country 
and  seldom  ground  into  meal.  The  lambs  were 
as  fat  and  round  as  little  pigs  and  were  sold  as 
they  ripened,  week  by  week,  on  the  London 
market.  Of  this  system  of  hurdle  grazing  we 
will  speak  later  at  more  length. 

There  are  few  breeds  with  more  adaptability 
than  the  Southdown.  It  is  especially  useful  on 
high-priced  land  and  near  markets  that  demand 
fancy  lamb  mutton.  Though  a.  Southdown 
flock  will  not  shear  so  much  as  some  others  of  the 
Down  family  it  is  questionable  whether  there  is 
a  more  profitable  breed  for  the  production  of  fat 
lambs  to  be  marketed  either  from  their  moth- 
ers' side  in  late  spring  or  early  summer  or  to  be 
fed  later  and  marketed  at  the  age  of  eight  to  ten 
months.  Their  smaller  size  is  in  their  favor, 
seeing  that  small  and  very  perfect  lambs  well 
finished,  command  a  premium  always.  South- 
down ewes  are  prolific  and  excellent  mothers, 
and  the  lambs  are  strong  at  birth. 

SHEOPSHIRES. 

Farther  to  the  north  in  England  originated 
the  Shropshire  sheep.  Not  unlike  many  pas- 
tures of  our  country  are  those  about  Shrews- 
bury, affording  strong  grass,  based  upon  lime- 


38 


SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 


stone  and  clay  loams.  The  Shropshire  had  its 
origin  in  a  mingling  of  the  bloods  of  a  native 
black  or  brown-faced  and  horned  sheep  called 
from  its  habitat  the  ''Morfe  Common  sheep." 
They  were  small  and  bore  light  fleeces  of  not 
more  than  2  lbs.  Infusion  of  Leicester,  Cots- 
wold  and  Southdown  blood  worked  a  great 
change,  practically  obliterating  the  blood  of  the 
earlier  parents  and  bringing  at  first  great  diver- 
sity of  type.     Careful  selection  toward  a  pretty 


FARM  TRAINING  FOR   THE   SHOW-RING. 

well  defined  ideal  had  by  1853  resulted  in  fixing 
a  type  and  it  was  then  advised  that  the  Royal 
Agricultural  Society  recognize  them  as  a  dis- 
tinct breed.  Since  that  time  they  have  gone 
steadily  forward  in  improvement  and  this  is  es- 
pecially notable  in  recent  years,  when  the  breed 


MUTTON    BREEDS.  39 

seems  really  to  have  reached  its  ultimate  per- 
fection. It  would  certainly  be  difficult  to  suggest 
any  desirable  modification  of  the  well  bred 
Shropshire's  form,  fleece  or  character.  The 
breed  is  perhaps  the  most  popular  in  the  World 
today  and  has  the  largest  number  of  registering 
breeders. 

The  Shropshire  is  a  medium-sized  sheep,  rams 
weighing  from  175  to  225  lbs.  and  ewes  125  to 
170  lbs.  They  shear  well,  considerably  better 
than  the  Southdown,  and  the  wool  is  of  excellent 
quality.  The  lambs  fatten  well  and  should  go 
to  market  from  their  mother's  sides,  else  they 
may  reach  too  great  weights  for  the  top  of  the 
market. 

The  Shropshire  ideal  in  form  is  close  to  that 
of  the  Southdown,  with  a  little  greater  size  and 
a  darker  head  and  legs,  though  not  so  dark  as 
the  Hampshire  or  Oxford  Downs.  The  fleece  is 
longer  than  in  the  Southdown  and  is  not  usually 
so  close-set  or  dense.  Certainly  there  is  no  more 
beautiful  sight  than  a  well  bred  and  well  kept 
flock  of  Shropshires,  the  fine  matronly  ewes 
with  their  white  fleeces  set  off  by  the  brown  of 
heads,  ears  and  legs.  Their  mutton  is  perhaps 
not  quite  so  good  as  the  Southdown,  but  there  is 
not  much  difference  in  this  respect,  and  they  are 
equally  prolific,  though  the  lambs  may  not  have 
quite  the  same  vigor  at  birth  nor  do  they  usually 
fatten  at  quite  so  early  an  age. 

The  one  difficulty  with  the  Shropshire  sheep, 
in  America  is  the  careless  and  ignorant  shep- 
herd who  permits  his  flock  to  become  infested 
with  parasites  or  allows  his  ewes  to  become  so 


40  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

fat  that  they  do  not  breed  well,  and  such  a  man 
might  not  succeed  with  any  breed. 

HAMPSHIRES. 

The  study  of  how  this  great  breed  was  orig- 
inated is  a  most  interesting  one,  though  rather 
too  long  and  complicated  to  be  entered  fully  into 
here.  The  Hampshire  is  the  result  of  skillful 
mingling  of  the  bloods  of  an  old  white-faced 
honied  race,  called  the  Wiltshire,  the  South- 
down, the  Sussex  and  probably  the  Cotswold 
breeds.  During  many  years  men  worked  grad- 
ually toward  an  ideal,  making  skillful  matings 
and  discarding  the  inferior  offspring  as  well  as 
those  which  went  toward  the  wrong  type.  The 
result  was  astonishing,  for  the  Hampshire 
breeds  .now  remarkably  true  to  type  and  that 
type  quite  unlike  any  of  the  ancestry  involved 
in  its  creation. 

The  Hampshire  is  the  largest  and  heaviest  of 
the  Down  breeds,  and  is  only  excelled  by  the 
Lincoln  in  weight  and  occasionally  by  the  Cots- 
wold, among  the  long-wooled  races.  It  has 
dark  brown  or  black  points,  with  bold  counte- 
nance, and  a  large  ear,  set  on  rather  low  and 
standing  well  out  to  the  side.  The  bone  is  large, 
lim^bs  especially  strong  and  well  set  on;  fleece 
fine  and  white.  It  presents  a  very  striking  ap- 
pearance, the  rams  having  bold  Roman  counte- 
nances, and  the  ewes  characteristic  strong  but 
feminine  faces. 

The  Hampshire  is  essentially  the  sheep  for 
the  arable  farm,  fitted  by  long  habit  to  being  put 
in  hurdles,  able  to  consume  a  large  amount  of 


MUTTON   BREEDS.  41 

food  and  to  make  from  it  good  mutton  at  an 
early  age.  The  Hampshire  lamb  is  famed  for 
its  early  maturity  and  great  weight.  There  is 
no  breed  that  excels  the  Hampshire  in  this  res- 
pect. Well  kept  Hamp shires  are  among  the 
most  profitable  sheep  in  the  world. 

The  writer  recalls  with  great  pleasure  some 
days  spent  in  the  Hampshire  growing  country 
of  England.  It  was  much  of  it  a  soil  of  only 
moderate  fertility,  resting  on  chalk,  the  farms  of 
fairly  good  size.  One  especially  of  1,400  acres 
he  recalls  to  mind,  for  on  that  farm  were  2,500 
magnificent  Hampshire  sheep  and  lambs.  Most 
of  them  were  in  hurdles  and  following  the  hur- 
dles were  seen  great  crops  of  grain. 

There  seemed  to  be  not  a  single  sheep  or  lamb 
on  this  farm  that  was  not  in  perfect  health  and 
vigor. 

A  man  ambitious  to  do  the  best  possible  thing 
with  sheep  can  take  up  the  Hampshire  breed 
with  good  courage,  for  they  have  in  them  pos- 
sibilities in  the  way  of  great  and  rapid  growth 
beyond  most  breeds ;  perhaps  beyond  any  other 
breed.  On  the  other  hand  few  breeds  degenerate 
into  more  unsightly  "weeds"  than  badly  kept 
and  diseased  Hampshires.  The  Hampshire  ram 
is  often  used  for  cross  breeding  and  gets  fine, 
vigorous  lambs  nicely  marked  with  black  points. 

OXFOKDS. 

The  Oxford  is  in  appearance  a  large  Shrop- 
shire, with  a  coarser  and  more  open  fleece,  a 
larger  bone,  usually  a  darker  face  and  coarser 
ear.     It  is  the  result  of  crossing  the  Cotswold 


42  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

and  Hampshire  types,  begun  about  tlie  year 
1833.  The  Oxford  is  a  noble  sheep,  having  some 
of  tlie  characteristics  of  the  Hampshires;  is  a 
good  sire  with  which  to  cross  breed  and  is  often 
used  for  that  purpose.  There  is  need  of  a  little 
more  care  in  management  with  these  sheep  to 
avoid  parasitism  than  with  some  breeds,  but  no 
man  who  has  grown  Oxfords  and  kept  them 
healthy  but  has  found  them  profitable. 

THE  LONG-WOOLS. 

LEICESTERS. 

The  Leicester  is  an  old  breed  little  known  in 
the  United  States  at  the  present  time  but  much 
kept  in  Canada.  It  is  notable  as  being  the  first 
recorded  sheep  to  feel  the  improvement  of  a 
genius  in  breeding,  Robert  Bakewell  having  un- 
dertaken the  improvement  of  the  breed  in  about 
1755.  Bakewell  conceived  the  idea  of  improving 
this  old,  coarse-boned,  long-wooled  breed.  Just 
how  he  did  it  we  would  like  to  know  and  never 
will,  but  it  was  entirely  by  selection,  so  we  are 
told,  and  he  evidently  had  the  master  eye  for 
seeing  virtues  in  animals  and  knowing  which 
Avould  be  transmitted.  He  made  such  fame  as  a 
breeder  of  sheep  that  before  his  death  his  rams 
were  let  for  the  season  for  as  high  as  $2,000 
each. 

The  Leicester  is  found  in  Canada  and  on  some 
of  our  Western  ranches.  It  is  a  large  sheep, 
with  white  points  and  a  long,  rather  coarse  wool. 
It  is  finely  formed,  with  an  especially  wide 
spread  of  rib,  and  has  an  extraordinary  facility 


||::,;{; 

i 

MUTTON   BREEDS.  45 

for  taking  on  fat.  In  truth,  it  is  a  defect  in  tlie 
Leicester,  according  to  modern  idea,  that  it 
loads  up  too  much  with  internal  fat.  Its  best 
place  in  our  economy  is  in  cross  breeding.  Lei- 
cester rams  on  Merino  ewes  produce  superb 
feeders  with  a  very  good  class  of  wool. 

COTSWOLDS. 

One  of  the  most  common  breeds  in  parts  of 
America  thirty  years  ago  was  the  Cotswold. 
Common  they  still  are  in  parts  of  the  country. 
They  abound  in  Canada  and  in  some  parts  of  the 
West,  notably  in  Utah  and  Oregon.  The  Cots- 
wold resembles  the  Leicester  somewhat,  being  a 
large  sheep  with  white  face  and  legs  and  long 
wool.  The  face  may  be  grayish  or  even  light 
brown,  and  there  is  a  tuft  of  wool  on  the  fore- 
head. The  wool  is  coarse  but  adapted  to  cer- 
tain uses.  Cotswolds  make  gain  profitably  but 
are  not  adapted  to  the  production  of  very  young 
fat  lambs.  The  best  use  of  the  breed  is  in  cross 
breeding  on  ewes  of  Merino  foundation,  and  for 
this  purpose  it  has  been  extensively  used  in 
Montana  and  other  Western  states.  Cotswolds 
do  not  thrive  when  kept  in  large  flocks  in  the 
Eastern  states,  though  they  are  healthy  in  Can- 
ada, Oregon  and  other  cooler  regions.  There 
is  hardly  any  more  grand  and  stately  sheep  than 
the  well  bred  and  well  fitted  Cotswold  as  it  ap- 
pears at  our  great  shows. 

LINCOLNS. 

Quite  like  the  Cotswold  is  the  Lincoln.     To 
the  careful  observer,  however,  there  is  a  consid- 


46  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

erabJe  difference  in  the  type.  The  Lincoln  is 
the  heaviest  breed,  probably,  in  the  world,  and 
in  England  Lincolns  have  been  known  to  dress 
90  lbs.  per  quarter.  The  wool  is  extraordinarily 
long,  samples  being  shown  of  21  inches  growth, 
and  rams  sometimes  shear  the  extraordinary 
amount  of  30  lbs. 

The  new  Lincoln  sheep  is  the  product  of  Lei- 
cester crosses  upon  the  old  Lincoln.  He  is  truly 
a  magnificent  creation  of  the  long-wooled  char- 
acter, requiring  rich  pastures  and  plenty  of 
space.  As  a  mutton  sheep  he  is  inferior  to  the 
Down  breeds  as  far  as  quality  is  concerned,  but 
for  crossing  purposes  no  class  of  sheep  is  in 
greater  demand,  and  the  highest  prices  in  recent 
years  have  been  paid  by  Argentine  buyers  for 
Lincoln  rams.  In  truth,  the  great  mutton  ex- 
porting business  of  Argentina  is  based  largely 
upon  the  use  of  Lincoln  blood  on  Merino  founda- 
tion, and  it  is  not  generally  known  that  their 
sheep  are  far  superior  to  our  own  in  quality 
and  are  therefore  much  more  acceptable  in  the 
British  markets. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  when  we  have 
learned  our  trade  better  we  will  in  turn  use 
thousands  of  rams  of  both  the  Lincoln  and  Cots- 
wold  breeds  upon  our  range-bred  ewes  to  pro- 
duce mutton  both  for  our  own  and  the  foreign 
markets. 

DORSET  HORNS. 

Properly,  the  Dorset  belongs  with  the  Downs 
and  indeed  the  ancestors  of  the  present  Dorset 
Horns  were  much  like  the  Wiltshire  ancestors  of 


MUTTON   BREEDS. 


47 


the  Hampshire  Down  sheep.  There  is  now  lit- 
tle resemblance  between  the  Dorset  and  the 
Hampshire  breeds,  though  singularly  enough 
each  has  taken  up  the  same  field  of  endeavor,  the 
production  of  early  lambs.  The  Hampshire 
lambs  usually  come  at  a  later  time  than  the  Dor- 
sets  and  do  not  go  to  market  quite  so  young, 
but  each  has  the  habit  of  fattening  at  an  early 


r 

"'1 

— i- 

^^^fef:t::#ii^ississai» 

1 

SOME    OHIO  DORSETS. 


age,  and  the  Dorset  ewe  has  also  the  way  of 
dropping  her  lambs  at  an  earlier  season  than 
any  other  ewe.  Then  she  is  the  greatest  milker 
of  any  of  the  sheep  tribe,  and  because  of  this 
large  supply  of  milk,  and  because  of  their  vigor- 
ous digestion  and  ability  to  use  grain  at  an  early 
age  the  Dorset  lambs  soon  attain  to  good  weights 


48  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

and  are  usually  sold  fat  from  their  mothers' 
sides.  In  truth,  it  is  not  good  practice  to  allow 
Dorset  lambs  to  attain  to  an  age  of  above  six  to 
eight  months,  and  most  profit  comes  from  selling 
them  at  two  to  four  months. 

The  Dorset,  like  the  Southdown,  is  of  unmixed 
ancestry,  and  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  breeds 
in  existence,  though  doubtless  much  changed  by 
selection  of  modern  and  progressive  breeders. 
Before  cows  were  used  in  the  dairy  in  Dorset- 
shire sheep  were  kept  for  their  milk  which,  no 
doubt,  accounts  in  part  for  the  wonderful  milk- 
ing powers  of  the  Dorset  ewe.  In  truth,  many 
of  these  ewes  are  such  large  milkers  that  it  is 
necessary  to  relieve  them  by  hand  stripping  for 
a  few  days  after  the  lambs  are  born  until  they 
become  able  to  take  all  the  milk. 

Dorset  Horns  are  so  named  because  both 
sexes  have  horns.  The  rams'  horns  are  large 
and  heavy  and  curved  rather  closely  in  front  of 
the  head ;  the  ewes  have  light  horns  that  should 
curve  toward  the  front.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that 
Dorset  ewes  are  as  pugnacious  as  their  arma- 
ment would  indicate,  often  attacking  stray  dogs 
and  lacking  almost  altogether  that  timidity  that 
characterizes  other  sheep.  A  sheep-killing  dog 
will  sometimes  kill  Dorset  ewes,  but  it  is  not 
probable  that  any  dog  would  begin  a  career  of 
sheep-killing  in  a  Dorset  flock. 

The  Dorsets  have  a  form  not  unlike  the 
Southdown,  though  generally  more  upstanding, 
and  a  similar  fleece  of  close,  strong  wool,  with 
an  elastic  fiber  which  is  very  white.  They  shear 
better  than  some  mutton  breeds  and  the  wool  is 


MUTTON   BREEDS.  49 

of  the  first  quality.  They  are  very  docile  and 
thrive  in  hurdles  or  on  grass  where  proper  care 
is  taken  to  keep  them  from  parasites.  They 
have  been  introduced  into  several  states  of  our 
country  and  have  thriven  wherever  men  have 
understood  their  requirements,  and  have  failed 
wherever  in  the  hands  of  careless  or  ignorant 
shepherds.  It  is  notable  that  there  are  now  pro- 
duced in  America  under  the  conditions  of  the 
Eastern  states  as  good  Dorsets  as  there  are  in 
the  world,  whereas  most  of  the  other  mutton 
breeds  rely  upon  importations  to  maintain  their 
quality.  13orsets  find  their  best  use  in  America 
in  the  hill  regions  of  the  South,  where  early 
lambs  are  grown.  They  are  favorites  in  Vir- 
ginia, West  Virginia,  and  so  far  as  tried  in 
Kentucky,  and  in  the  Northern  states  they  are 
largely  used  in  the  ''hot  house"  lamb  business. 
Dorsets  are  excellent  for  cross  breeding,  the 
lambs  growing  well  and  fattening  readily,  and 
cross-bred  ewes  from  Merino  mothers  and  Dor- 
set sires  form  the  best  foundation  for  a  flock  for 
producing  winter  lambs. 

THE  MOUNTAIN  BREEDS. 

CHEVIOTS. 

The  Cheviot  is  classed  as  a  mountain  breed, 
of  which  there  are  a  number  in  England  and 
Scotland,  natives  of  the  hill  regions.  The  Chev- 
iot is  from  the  Cheviot  hills  in  southern  Scotland 
and  northern  England.  It  is  a  remarkably 
hardy,  vigorous  sheep,  standing  erect  and  alert, 
on  strong  legs,  carrying  excellent  mutton,  and  a 


50  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

fine  fleece  of  good  wool,  rather  fine  for  a  moun- 
tain breed.  There  is  scarcely  anywhere  a  pret- 
tier sheep  than  the  Cheviot.  It  has  such  an  air 
of  interest  and  intelligence  and  seems  so  wide- 
awake. The  Cheviots  have  displaced  the  hard- 
ier Black-faced  breed  in  all  the  lower  and  rich- 
er i^arts  of  Scotland,  though  in  the  colder  and 
more  heathery  portions  this  ancient  breed  still 
holds  its  own. 

The  Cheviot  has  a  place  in  our  land.  It  is 
well  adapted  to  grass  farms,  to  hill  regions  and 
wherever  sheep  are  required  to  make  good  mut- 
ton largely  from  pasture. 

Naturally  the  higher  and  cooler  regions  are 
best  adapted  to  this  sheep.  The  breed  is  quite 
well  represented  in  America  and  has  thriven  in 
many  parts  of  the  country.  It  is  in  its  favor 
that  it  is  not  too  large,  seeing  that  fat  lambs,  not 
too  heavy,  are  now  most  in  demand. 

BLACK-FACES. 

The  writer  feels  that  it  would  cause  disap- 
pointment among  his  readers  if  he  did  not  make 
some  mention  of  this  wonderful  little  Scotch 
Black-faced  highland  sheep.  In  their  own  land 
nothing  can  take  their  place.  They  have  the  in- 
stincts of  true  wild  animals.  They  love  the  high 
peaks  and  heathery  slopes,  and,  scenting  storms, 
are  led  by  that  same  instinct  to  seek  the  shelter 
of  the  glens.  These  sheep  belong  with  the  lands. 
They  pass  with  the  farm  from  one  tenant  to  the 
other,  when  farms  change  hands.  Their  love 
of  home  is  so  great  that  when  removed  miles 
away  they  will  often  return  straight  across  coun- 


MUTTON    BREEDS.  51 

try  to  their  old  haunts,  swimming  rivers  if  need 
be  to  accomplish  their  desire. 

The  Black-faced  sheep  are  small,  moderately 
well  formed,  with  coarse,  long  wool.  They  make 
good  mutton,  which  commands  in  British  mar- 
kets a  good  price  being  thought  to  have  a  gamey 
character.  They  are  a  comparatively  new 
breed  in  Scotland,  if  we  accept  tradition,  having 
existed  there  but  about  140  years.  From  whence 
they  came  is  a  mystery.  There  are  no  sheep 
elsewhere  in  the  world  like  them,  the  Lonks  and 
Berdwicks  of  northern  England  having  most 
resemblance.  They  seem  to  be  a  spontaneous 
product,  creation  of  environment,  to  graze  those 
heathery  hills. 

Of  course  they  had  to  start  from  somewhere, 
and  the  legend  that  they  swam  ashore  from  some 
sinking  ship  of  the  Spanish  Armada  is  harmless 
and  as  good  as  any.  The  management  of  these 
hardy  Black-faced  sheep  is  simple;  every  day 
the  sheiDherd  seeks  to  see  each  ewe  of  the  flock, 
climbing  high  ovr  heather-clad  hills  with  his  dog 
at  his  side  to  accomplish  this.  It  is  his  part  to 
be  sure  that  none  of  the  ewes  have  accidentally 
gotten  upon  their  backs.  They  are  shorn  in 
June  or  July,  being  brought  down  to  the  farm- 
stead for  that  purpose.  It  takes  a  good  dog  and 
an  agile  shepherd  to  round  them  up  and  bring 
them  down,  and  it  is  customary  to  tie  their  feet 
when  they  are  shorn,  since  they  struggle  like 
wild  things. 

In  winter  they  are  brought  down  to  the  fields 
and  given  a  bite  of  hay  and  sometimes  turnips. 
It  is  found,  however,  that  too  many  turnips  en- 


52  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

courage  a  growth  of  horn  in  the  unborn  lamb 
that  sometimes  destroys  both  the  unfortunate 
lamb  and  its  mother. 

Thus  it  is  seen  that  this  most  beautiful  and 
picturesque  sheep  is  one  that  presents  unusual 
difficulties  to  the  would-be  breeder  in  America. 
He  must  beware  of  overfeeding  in  winter;  he 
will  find  them  hard  to  drive  and  pen ;  he  will  find 
them  somewhat  harder  than  other  sheep  to  re- 
strain within  boundaries.  And  still  there  are 
situations,  like  the  mountains  in  northern  On- 
tario, in  the  higher  regions  of  California,  Oregon 
and  Washington,  and  along  the  coast  islands  of 
Alaska  where  undoubtedly  the  natural  character 
of  the  Black-faced  sheep  would  make  it  of  great 
value. 

The  writer  has  devoted  this  space  to  the  breed 
because  of  its  connection  with  legend,  song  and 
story,  which  have  given  it  a  place  in  almost  ev- 
ery man's  heart,  and  because  he  hopes  to  count 
loyal  Scots  among  his  readers.  He  will  never 
forget  his  days  spent  among  the  Lammermoor 
hills  of  southern  Scotland,  where  the  Border 
Leicesters  occupied  the  lower  slopes  and  the 
Black-faced  climbed  the  heathery  heights  and 
their  lambs  played  about  the  feet  of  the  Twin- 
law  Cairns.  It  was  a  land  of  peace  and  quiet, 
of  faithfulness  and  almost  religious  devotion 
to  duty.  The  old  steward  of  the  farm  had  lived 
there  in  that  capacity  for  50  years.  His  son  and 
grandson  worked  on  the  farm.  High  upon 
the  slope  just  below  the  plantation  of  fir  wood, 
stood  a  low  stone  cottage  beaten  with  rain  and 
wind,  where  lived  the  faithful  old  shepherd  and 


MUTTON   BREEDS.  55 

his  son,  and  just  above  his  cottage  began  a  great 
mountain  pasture,  enclosed  by  stone  walls,  where 
there  were  bits  of  moors  from  which  peat  was 
dug,  and  great  slopes  of  heather,  which  is  a 
small,  fine  and  dense-growing  bush  on  which 
sheep  can  subsist.  Would  that  we  could  implant 
upon  our  own  soil  some  such  spirit  as  pervaded 
this  place,  the  quiet  and  peace,  the  simple  living 
and  high,  manly  thinking,  the  honesty  and  de- 
votion to  duty ! 

THE  TUNIS  AND  PERSIAN  SHEEP. 

In  Asia  and  Africa  began  the  first  civiliza- 
tions, and  there  perhaps  began  the  first  domesti- 
cation of  the  sheep.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  we 
do  not  now  know  whence  came  the  ancestors  of 
our  various  breeds  of  sheep,  nor  do  we  know 
certainly  whether  they  all  have  a  common  an- 
cestry, though  we  may  infer  that  it  is  so  from  the 
fact  of  their  readily  interbreeding  with  each 
other.  All  of  the  wild  breeds  of  sheep  at  pres- 
ent have  short  tails,  whereas  most  domesticated 
sheep  have  long  tails.  It  is  probable  that  the 
wild  race  from  which  sprung  our  flocks  of  to- 
day is  extinct. 

However,  it  is  interesting  to  note  what  ad- 
vance has  been  made  by  the  Asiatic  and  African 
breeders  of  sheep  and  goats.  The  Nubian  goat 
is  probably  the  most  developed  in  milking  power 
and  fecundity  of  all  breeds  of  goats  and  the  Per- 
sian and  African  sheep  have  also  strong  devel- 
opment in  certain  ways  fitting  them  to  the  cli- 
mates and  environments  in  which  they  were  pro- 
duced and  to  the  needs  of  their  owners. 


56  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

The  Persian  and  Tunis  sheep  have  evidently 
common  origins  and  belong  to  the  same  race. 
In  truth  it  would  seem  to  the  writer  that  the  Tu- 
nis breed  which  has  existed  in  America  since 
about  1799  and  which  now  may  need  some  infu- 
sion of  fresh  blood  might  with  advantage  receive 
an  infusion  of  Persian  blood. 

The  Tunis  came  to  America  early  in  the  last 
century,  and  was  bred  near  Philadelphia,  and 
afterwards  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia 
where  they  proved  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  en- 
vironment. The  civil  war  almost  destroyed 
them.  A  few  survived  and  were  shown  at  the 
Columbian  Exposition  in  Chicago.  Soon  there- 
after some  enthusiastic  admirers  began  breeding 
these  sheep  in  Indiana.  It  is  possible  that  in 
their  time  of  adversity  the  blood  of  the  Tunis 
was  not  kept  quite  unmixed,  since  there  is  more 
variety  in  type  among  them  than  is  usual  among 
pure  breeds. 

The  distinguishing  character  of  the  Tunis 
breed  is  the  head,  which  should  be  hornless,  cov-. 
ered  with  tawny  yellowish  brown  hair  the  nose 
may  incline  to  roman  character,  the  ear  should 
droop  and  be  rather  heavy.  The  form  is  much 
like  other  mutton  sheep  except  that  the  legs  are 
usually  long  and  the  neck  the  same.  The  fleece 
is  soft,  fine,  fairly  abundant,  and  varies  much  in 
color;  it  may  be  white,  or  brown,  or  reddish,  or 
the  colors  may  be  intermixed.  In  the  Persian 
the  same  characteristics  are  noted,  with  a  like- 
lihood of  black  predominating. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  the  Tunis  is  the 
fat  tail.     This   seems  to  have  been  originally 


i 

BHjB^BHHB,       d^^S 

||i,i>J 

^  iiil^^                    '-mm 

H^ 

EP  ON  AN  OHIO  FAB 

1 

la 

■H^^^^lE^  °  V 

i  J' 

IHEJ 

Illl 

MUTTON   BREEDS.  59 

planned  as  a  store-house  to  tide  the  animal  over 
periods  of  drought  and  bad  pasturage.  When 
tails  are  not  docked  they  are  moderately  long 
and  the  fleshy  part  hangs  down  about  six  or 
eight  inches.  This  is  so  inconvenient  at  the 
breeding  season  that  ewes  usually  have  their 
tails  docked,  besides  there  is  in  the  United  States 
no  popular  clamor  for  fat  tails,  which  are  in 
African  and  Asiatic  regions  considered  very  de- 
licious and  are  used  in  place  of  butter. 

When  the  tails  are  docked  there  is  yet  an  ac- 
cumulation of  fat  across  the  top  of  the  rump. 

Tunis  sheep  fatten  very  readily  and  their 
lambs  are  especially  quick  to  become  plump  and 
ready  for  the  fancy  hot-house  lamb  trade.  It 
is  for  this  purpose  that  they  are  mostly  used, 
though  the  Tunis  rams  crossed  upon  almost  any 
breed  of  ewes  get  good  lambs. 

The  Persian  sheep  were  introduced  into  the 
United  States  in  1891  and  bred  in  California, 
Nevada  and  other  Western  States.  They  are 
very  large,  very  active,  good  feeders  on  the 
range,  and  when  crossed  on  Merinos  the  lambs 
prove  to  be  very  easily  fattened.  Of  a  herd  of 
half-blood  Persian-Merino  ewes  a  California 
owner  says :  ^ '  They  are  omnivorous  feeders  and 
great  rustlers  for  food.  If  there  is  anything  be- 
tween heaven  and  earth  to  eat  they  will  get  if 
The  writer  has  observed  a  tendency  among  some 
Persians  to  foot  disease  when  kept  on  wet  soils. 
They  are  true  sheep  of  the  desert,  and  there 
they  would  seem  to  have  a  useful  place. 

Among  the  breeds  described  the  would-be 
sheep  owner  can  choose  one  and  he  should  stick 


60  SHEEP    FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

to  that  one.  Cross-breeding  is  permissible  for 
the  market,  but  let  no  one  undertake  at  this  day 
to  create  a  new  breed  of  sheep  by  mingling  the 
bloods  of  breeds  already  having  received 
the  care  and  thought  of  generations  of  skillful 
breeders.  One  man's  lifetime  is  too  short  to  es- 
tablish a  breed,  and  there  seems  small  need  of 
another. 


CHAPTER  IIL 


CROSS-BREEDING.       ^ 

Notwitlistanding  the  great  excellence  of  many 
of  the  pure  breeds  of  sheep  it  will  be  a  long  time 
before  we  will  be  free  from  the  practice  of  cross 
breeding.  There  is  a  necessity  for  this  in  sheep 
breeding  much  more  urgent  than  in  cattle  breed- 
ing, or  in  fact,  with  any  other  farm  animals. 
Very  few  pure  bred  sheep  reach  our  markets. 
Nor  will  they  come  in  large  numbers  for  many 
years.  The  reason  for  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
fact  that  so  large  a  per  cent  of  our  sheep  are 
grown  upon  the  western  ranges.  There  ewe 
flocks  seem  most  profitable  when  they  have  a  Me- 
rino foundation.  Merinos  from  time  immem- 
orial have  been  range  sheep,  the  only  break  in 
their  habit  being  the  few  decades  that  they  were 
kept  upon  eastern  farms.  Merinos  are  hardy, 
are  used  to  droughts  and  short  feed,  have  the  in- 
stinct of  herding,  are  easily  managed.  More- 
over they  retain  their  wool  well  up  to  consider- 
able age.  Wool  is  a  far  greater  factor  in  West- 
ern sheep  husbandry  than  it  is  in  the  country  to 
the  east.  Flocks  must  be  good  shearers,  must 
be  hardy,  must  herd  well. 

But  the  Merino  when  kept  pure  is  an  inferior 
mutton  sheep.  Moreover  it  is  an  inferior  breed- 
ing sheep.  An  infusion  of  mutton  blood  makes 
the  ewe  a  better  mother,  her  lambs  are  stronger, 

(63) 


64 


SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 


she  suckles  them  better.  She  feeds  better,  too, 
and  is  a  "better  rustler."  Then  her  progeny  is 
in  large  part  destined  to  reach  the  great  markets 
when  about  six  months  of  age.  Therefore  the 
better  grown  and  heavier  it  is  the  more  money  it 
will  bring.  Thus  there  is  often  sought  a  class 
of  rams  that  will  make  the  best  lambs,  regard- 


DORSET  EWES. 

less  of  their  titness  for  long  continued  life  upon 
the  range,  they  will  not  naturally  remain  there 
more  than  one  summer.  Thus  the  complexity  of 
cross-breeding  is  increased  for  from  the  mother 
having  in  her  own  body  an  infusion  of  mutton 
blood  there  is  secured  a  lamb  having  a  sire  of 


CROSS-BREEDING.  65 

pure  mutton  breeding.  What  sort  of  cross 
makes  the  best  ewe,  what  sort  of  cross  upon  her 
makes  the  best  market  lamb!  To  this  question 
there  would  naturally  be  as  many  answers  as 
there  are  supporters  of  breeds  of  sheep.  There 
is  hardly  any  commingling  of  bloods  that  has 
not  use  for  some  special  environment.  We  may 
clear  the  matter  up  somewhat  by  discussing  a 
few  crosses  and  their  results. 

At  the  outset  let  it  be  said  that  the  influence 
of  the  sire  and  dam  are  theoretically  equal. 
Some  hidden  power  of  the  one  or  the  other  may 
seem  to  cause  the  offspring  to  resemble  more 
nearly  the  one  parent  than  the  other,  but  no  man 
can  safely  predict  whether  this  influence  will  re- 
side in  the  sire  or  the  dam.  Naturally,  as  she 
nourishes  the  lamb,  the  ewe  has  greater  chance 
to  influence  her  progeny/  than  the  sire.  Thus  if 
a  ewe  of  a  small  race  is  mated  with  a  ram  of  a 
large  race  the  lamb  must  be  nourished,  both  be- 
fore and  after  birth,  by  the  smaller  ewe.  It  will 
grow  to  be  of  greater  size  than  its  mother,  but 
will  not  equal  the  size  of  its  sire.  Nor  will  it  be 
identically  the  same  as  though  the  cross  was  re- 
versed. That  is,  supposing  we  are  considering 
the  Merino  of  one  of  the  lesser  strains,  and  the 
Hampshire,  the  natural  way  of  crossing  is  to 
use  the  Hampshire  ram  on  the  Merino  ewe.  The 
result  is  a  lamb  that  grows  to  be  larger  than  its 
mother,  and  smaller  than  its  sire. 

Reversing  the  process,  we  choose  a  typical 
Merino  ram  and  mate  him  to  a  Hampshire  ewe 
and  get  a  lamb  that  never  equals  its  mother  in 
stature,  but  excels  considerably  its  sire,  and  also 


66  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

excels  the  lamb  of  identically  the  same  blood 
from  the  Merino  mother.  The  better  nourish- 
ment both  before  and  after  birth  causes  this  re- 
sult. It  is  seen  then  that  the  better  the  ewe 
the  better  her  lamb.  Nevertheless,  it  may  hap- 
pen that  a  class  of  moderately  small  ewes  may 
yield  most  profit  since  they  consume  forage 
about  in  proportion  to  their  size,  thus  a  flock  of 
1,000  medium  sized  ewes  bred  to  fine,  strong 
mutton-bred  rams  would  very  likely  yield  a  bet- 
ter weight  of  lambs  than  a  flock  of  800  larger 
ewes  and  consume  practically  the  same  amount 
of  feed. 

In  other  words,  the  ram  is  just  half  of  the 
flock,  and  by  far  the  easier  half  to  provide  the 
forage  for.  Thus  the  ram  cannot  well  be  too 
good. 

To  freshen  the  blood  of  the  pure  Merino  on 
the  range  a  number  of  infusions  have  been  tried. 
The  Cotswold  blood  does  well;  a  flock  having 
one-quarter  or  even  one-eighth  of  Cotswold 
blood  is  increased  in  size  and  stamina  remark- 
ably. To  get  a  flock  of  one-quarter  Cotswold 
blood  one  must  first  get  one-half  blood  Cotswold- 
Merino  rams  to  use  on  his  pure-bred  Merinos. 
For  some  exceedingly  rich  ranges  the  one-half 
blood  Cotswold-Merino  ewes  are  used  and  with 
good  success.  These  ewes  are  exceedingly' good 
foragers  and  raise  hardy  fast  growing  lambs. 

The  Lincoln  cross  does  admirably  on  some 
types  of  Merino  ewes  and  is  much  esteemed  in 
some  regions  of  the  West.  The  Oxford  cross 
has  given  good  results  also  as  a  permanent  in- 
fusion in  the  range  flock.     There  are  a  few  sheep 


CROSS-BREEDING.  67 

owners  who  use  the  Hampshire  for  this  purpose, 
though  the  general  opinion  is  now  that  the  blood 
of  the  Downs  cuts  short  the  yield  of  wool. 

The  Leicester  blood  makes  an  admirable  infu- 
sion into  the  range  flock.  It  is  said  that  not 
more  than  one-ciuarter  or  one-eighth  of  it  is 
needed  to  give  strength  and  hardiness.  The 
Dorset  has  been  tried  and  found  worthy;  some 
of  the  best  range  ewes  the  writer  has  ever  seen 
have  been  in  part  of  Dorset  blood.  Dorset 
blood  especially  helps  the  milking  qualities  of 
Merino  ewes  and  makes  them  able  to  push  their 
lambs  forward  astonishingly. 

Though  the  writer  knows  of  no  instance  of  its 
use  he  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  use  of 
Cheviot  blood  would  prove  a  very  desirable  ad- 
dition to  herds  ranging  in  the  mountains  of  the 
west.  Probably  one-quarter  of  Cheviot  blood 
would  be  enough.  Cheviots  make  flesh  readily 
from  grass  alone  and  are  remarkably  hardy 
and  are  very  great  rustlers  for  feed. 

CKOSS-BEEEDING  FOR  THE  LAMB  MARKET. 

Considering  the  western  range  sheep  first, 
various  breeds  have  been  used  for  production  of 
market  lambs.  At  one  time  the  Long-wools, 
Cotswold,  Leicester  or  Lincoln,  were  considered 
best  for  this  purpose.  Rams  of  either  of  these 
breeds  will  beget  fine,  strong  lambs  that  will  feed 
well  and  grow  to  large  size.  They  will  not  be  so 
fat  at  weaning  time  nor  come  into  market  so 
early  as  lambs  from  one  of  the  Down  breeds,  but 
they  do  splendidly  in  the  feed-lot  and  attain 
heavy  weights. 


68  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

The  Hampshire  gets  splendid  lambs,  well 
marked  with  brown  points,  easily  made  fat  and 
selling  near  the  top  of  the  market.  One  can 
hardly  make  a  mistake  in  using  Hampshire  rams 
if  he  wishes  to  make  market  lambs.  Hampshire 
grade  lambs  will  usually  be  fat  enough  for  the 
butchers  when  they  come  from  the  range,  and  if 
they  are  fed  will  ripen  very  early.  They  attain  ^ 
to  large  weights. 

The  Oxford  ram  gets  a  lamb  a  little  larger, 
l^robably,  than  the  Hampshire,  a  strong,  hardy 
fellow,  that  feeds  well.  He  weighs  heavy  and 
makes  good,  but  not  so  early  as  the  other 
Downs. 

The  Shropshire  ram  gets  fine,  active,  growthy 
lambs  that  mature  sooner  than  the  Oxfords 
and  sell  first  rate.  They  will  usually  be  fat 
enough  for  the  killers  when  they  leave  the 
range. 

The  Southdown  gets  merry,  plump,  roly-poly 
lambs  that  are  fat  first  of  all  and  are  apt  to  bring- 
most  money  ]Der  pound  in  the  market.  They  will 
not  weigh  quite  so  much  as  the  Shropshire 
grades,  but  will  be  ripe  earlier.  The  Grand 
Champion  load  of  range  lambs  at  the  Interna- 
tional at  Chicago  in  1906  was  a  load  of  South- 
down cross-bred  lambs.  The  western  flock-mas- 
ter need  not  fear  to  use  Southdown  rams  if  he 
means  to  sell  the  lambs.  They  will  make  good 
and  that  very  early. 

The  Dorset  gets  lambs  that  weigh  unusually 
well  and  the  ewe  lambs  should  always  be  saved 
to  be  put  in  the  flock,  since  Dorset  blood  in  the 
ewe  flock  is  a  gold  mine  to  the  flock  owner. 


CROSS-BREEDING.  69 

Cross-breeding  on  the  ranges  is  not  without 
its  difficulties.  The  problem  is  to  maintain  the 
original  ewe  flock  in  its  integrity.  Cross-bred 
lambs  that  may  sell  for  the  top  of  the  market  at 
the  river  markets  may  be  unfit  for  retention  on 
the  range,  because  of  the  too  large  proportion 
of  mutton  blood.  The  best  plan  is  to  breed  a 
portion  of  the  ewes  of  highest  quality  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  range  man  to  rams  especially 
suited  to  range  use,  and  thus  to  maintain  the 
flock  in  its  required  qualities,  letting  all  of  the 
cross  bred  lambs  go  to  market. 

CKOSS-BREEDING    IN    EASTERN    PASTURES- 

There  is  not  the  same  reason  for  cross  breed- 
ing in  eastern  lands.  In  truth  too  much  of  that 
is  done  at  all  times  and  types  are  destroyed  by 
useless  combinings  of  bloods.  If  one  starts  out 
with  a  Shropshire  flock  he  should  endeavor  to 
make  it  a  better  Shropshire  flock  by  purchase  of 
better  Shropshire  rams  than  he  has  been  in  habit 
of  using.  If  he  needs  greater  vigor  and  consti- 
tution he  can  get  it  probably  quite  as  easily  by 
choosing  an  unrelated  ram  bred,,  it  may  be,  at  a 
distance  from  him,  having  first  rate  vigor  and 
constitution,  and  of  the  same  breed.  The  same 
is  true  of  the  Cotswold,  Oxford,  Southdown,  and 
other  breeds.  There  are  not  enough  of  the  pure 
breeds  now,  and  they  should  not  be  mixed  un- 
less for  some  special  purpose,  and  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  as  the  cross-bred  progeny  should 
go  to  market  the  process  of  cross-breeding  is 
a  suicidal  one. 


70  SHEEP    FARMING   IN    AMEKICA. 

There  are  occasions,  however,  when  cross- 
breeding on  the  farm  is  desirable.  One  may 
buy  Western  ewes  and  ship  them  home.  These 
are  destined  for  lamb  growing  exclusively  and 
no  attempt  will  be  made  to  maintain  the  flock. 
These  ewes  then  may  be  mated  with  a  ram 
suitable  to  the  market  and  the  time  of  year 
aimed  at.  If  for  hot-house  lamb  trade  a  South- 
down, Tunis,  Hampshire,  Shropshire  or  Dor- 
set should  be  used.  If  to  lamb  later  and  grow^ 
the  lambs  mainly  on  grass  the  Tunis  and 
Dorset  may  be  eliminated  and  the  Cheviot  and 
Oxford  added  to  the  list  from  which  rams  may 
be  drawn.  Or  if  the  lambs  are  to  come  late  and 
be  fed  the  next  Winter  one  of  the  long-wools  may 
be  chosen.  Or,  if  the  flock  happens  to  be  placed 
in  one  of  those  rare  regions  like  the  hills  of  Ohio 
where  sheep  are  yet  grown  largely  for  their 
fleece,  the  Delaine  or  Rambouillet,  or  Spanish 
Merino  ram  may  be  used. 

There  are  regions,  however,  where  cross 
breeding  is  imperatively  demanded.  That  is  in 
the  early  lamb  breeding  regions  of  the  Virgin- 
ias, Tennessee  and  Kentucky.  Here  are  found 
types  of  native  mountain  sheep  of  a  peculiar 
character.  They  may  be  said  to  be  true  ' '  Amer- 
ican" sheep,  descendants  of  the  earlier  impor- 
tations. The  unmixed  native  mountain  sheep  is 
leggy,  thin  in  neck,  light  in  fleece,  having  some- 
what of  an  open  fleece  as  though  coming  from  an 
open-wooled  breed,  and  very  often  the  ewes  have 
horns.  It  may  be  supposed  that  the  first  colon- 
ists sailing  as  they  often  did  from  Bristol  and 
Plymouth,  in  the  south  of  England,  brought  with 


CROSS-BREEDING.  71 

them  the  native  sheep  of  those  regions  among 
which  would  be  the  Dorsets  and  various  types  of 
long-wools.  These  mountain  ewes  though  not 
handsome  to  look  at  are  better  than  they  at  first 
appear.  They  are  active,  good  feeders,  very 
prolific,  and  good  mothers.  Their  lambs  are  not 
of  first  rate  quality  unmixed,  but  when  sired  by 
rams  of  good  mutton  type  they  grow  finely  and 
sell  well.  The  favorite  sire  for  this  business 
has  been  the  Southdown,  in  truth  no  breed  can 
get  a  better  lamb  or  one  ripening  earlier  than 
this  old  standby.  Shropshires  are  often  used, 
also,  and  get  a  heavier  lamb.  Hampshires  are 
in  great  favor  where  tried  and  Dorsets  have 
their  strenuous  advocates,  especially  in  Vir- 
ginia, where  they  have  been  used  most. 

The  advantage  of  Dorset  blood  is  two-fold, 
first  the  lambs  attain  very  good  weights,  usually 
outweighing  the  progeny  of  Down  rams,  and  the 
ewe  lambs  if  retained  on  the  farm,  make  admir- 
able mothers  for  successive  generations.  Lambs 
in  these  regions  are  usually  born  in  March  and 
fattened  mainly  on  grass,  going  to  market  in 
June  and  July.  The  source  of  supply  of  these 
ewes  is  from  the  small  farmers  in  the  moun- 
tains. Could  these  men  be  induced  to  improve 
their  flocks  by  use  of  better  rams  the  benefit 
would  be  immediate  and  marked.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  an  infusion  of  fresh  blood  from  any 
of  the  Down  or  Dorset  breeds  would  greatly  ben- 
efit these  mountain  flocks.  iVt  present  they  are 
suffering  from  the  result  of  long  continued  in- 
breeding. An  infusion  of  fresh  and  unrelated 
blood  would  marvelously  improve  them. 


CHAPTER   IV. 


SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT. 

KESTOCKING  A  FARM  WITH  SHEEP. 

Supposing  that  we  have  decided  to  embark  in 
the  sheep  industry,  and  have  decided  on  a  breed, 
the  next  consideration  is  liow  to  set  about  filling 
the  void  of  sheep  upon  our  farm.  Farms  differ 
in  size,  conformation  and  soil ;  conditions  vary 
greatly,  so  that  no  rule  can  be  laid  down  that  will 
be  applicable  to  all  places,  yet  there  are  a  few 
facts  that  are  of  general  application.  In  Eng- 
land and  France  there  are  farms  almost  entirely 
devoted  to  sheep ;  they  carry  little  other  stock, 
and  grow  crops  mainly  to  be  fed  to  the  flock,  with 
only  grain  in  rotation. 

These  farms  are  very  profitable  when  well 
managed,  and  greatly  build  the  soil  and  the  for- 
tunes of  the  owners.  We  can  not  yet  advocate 
the  attempt  to  establish  in  our  land  such  sheep 
farms  as  these,  at  least  the  growth  of  such  a 
farm  should  be  very  gradual,  and  any  attempt 
at  to  once  establish  such  a  one  would  result  dis- 
astrously in  nine  cases  out  of  ten.  We  have  no 
class  of  expert  shepherds  such  as  would  be 
needed  to  care  for  a  flock  on  such  a  farm,  nor 

(72) 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT  73 

would  the  importation  of  British  shepherds  help 
us,  for  we  have  problems  that  they  know  not  of, 
and  our  range  of  feeds  is  quite  different  from 
theirs.  With  a  right  understanding  of  the  mat- 
ter and  a  gradual  adaptation  of  our  farms  to 
sheep  growing,  and  a  habit  of  care  once  formed 
we  can  devote  whole  farms  to  sheep  as  well  as 


DIPPING  SHEEP  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  WISCONSIN. 

our  British  cousins,  but  that  is  a  work  that  must 
come  with  time  and  exiDerience. 

At  present,  then,  the  farmer  should  start  with 
a  small  flock,  letting  it  increase  gradually,  and 
trying  to  grow  in  knowledge  and  experience  as 
the  flock  grows  in  size. 

Nor  would  it  be  wise  or  prudent  to  begin  with 
a  flock  of  pure-bred  ewes.  A  few  pure-breds 
should  be  purchased,  say  ten  or  twelve,  the  rest 
of  the  flock  mav  well  be  of  2:rades.     The  ram 


74  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

sliould  always  be  pure-bred  and  of  as  good  qual- 
ity as  can  be  secured.  He  is  half  the  flock,  and 
if  he  is  mated  with  grades  and  is  required  to 
supply  all  their  deficiencies  he  has  great  need 
to  be  a  good  one. 

SELECTION   OF   THE  RAM. 

Choose  not  an  extra  large  ram,  but  one  of 
medium  size  for  the  breed  selected.  Size  does 
not  always  go  with  vigor  or  prepotency,  or  abil- 
ity to  transmit  good  qualities.  It  is  rare  that 
the  largest  ram  of  a  lot  has  the  most  vigor  or 
quality.  Choose  a  ram  that  has  short  legs  (they 
go  with  early  maturity),  with  wide  breast,  avoid- 
ing the  rams  where  "both  legs  come  out  of  the 
same  hole  in  the  body,"  choose  the  one  with  well 
sprung  rib  and  a  level,  straight  back,  looking  of 
course  for  a  good  leg  of  mutton,  which  is  after 
all,  about  all  that  there  is  in  a  sheep,  from  the 
butcher's  standpoint.  Then  be  sure  that  there 
is  a  thick,  muscular  neck,  a  bright,  quick  eye  a 
brisk  movement  denoting  vim  and  vigor.  Such 
a  ram  will  leave  his  impress  indelibly  upon  the 
flock  If  one  can  not  personally  select  his  ram, 
he  may  often  leave  it  to  the  good  judgment  of  the 
seller,  specifying  what  is  wanted,  and  the  novice 
will  generally  get  better  service  from  the  honor- 
able vendor  than  were  he  to  attempt  to  select  for 
himself. 

Fleece  is  of  course  important,  and  minor 
points,  such  as  markings  and  absence  of  scurs  or 
horns  on  all  breeds  save  Merinos  and  Dorsets. 
But  first  of  all  in  importance  is  it  to  get  a  ram 
boiling  over  with  vim  and  vigor. 


02 
as 

^     M 

IT" 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT.  77 

A  ram  of  such  character  will  readily  care  for 
40  or  50  ewes  if  hand  coupling  is  practiced,  al- 
lowing but  one  service  to  each  ewe.  He  may 
indeed  go  to  more  than  that  when  in  his  prime, 
aged  from  one  year  to  four  or  five. 

KEEPING  A   TYPE. 

At  the  show  ring  one  often  hears  a  remark 
from  some  student  of  breeds,  ''that  is  a  good 
pen,  but  off  on  type, ' '  or, ' '  that  is  a  good  sheep, 
but  not  of  the  right  type  for  the  breed. ' '  What, 
then,  is  type? 

Type  is  style,  conformation,  character.  It  is 
a  something  distinct  and  definite,  though  hard 
to  describe,  that  belongs  with  each  breed.  It 
may  not  always  be  of  much  value,  from  a  dollar- 
and-cents  standpoint,  yet  a  flock  lacking  in  type 
is  not  attractive  and  can  not  hope  to  do  much  in 
the  show  ring.  For  example,  a  Cheviot  true  to 
type  has  an  erect  ear,  an  alert  manner,  a  way  of 
carrying  its  head.  A  flock  of  Cheviots  that 
lacked  this  erect  ear,  this  sjDrightliness  of  look 
and  carriage,  would  fail  very  much  in  type  and 
would  not  be  attractive.  Types  change  as 
ideals  change.  The  Shropshire  has  undergone  a 
notable  evolution  within  20  years,  has  decreased 
somewhat  in  scale,  has  gained  in  compactness, 
in  covering,  in  beauty.  The  shepherd  should 
study  type  so  as  to  know  what  the  correct  ideal 
is  for  his  own  especial  breed  and  then  choose  his 
ram  to  help  him  iii^  that  type. 

This  does  not  mean  that  he  should  be  a  slave 
to  other  men's  caprices,  there  are  fashions  that 
are  foolish  and  that  sooner  or  later  will  work 


78  SHEEP  FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

the  undoing  of  their  followers.  One  is  wise  to 
steer  clear  of  them  as  far  as  he  is  able.  Or  a 
man  may  have  within  him  the  creative  instinct 
that  will  enable  him  to  evolve  a  new  and  better 
ideal,  and  to  breed  a  new  and  more  desirable 
type.  There  is  need  in  America  of  mncli  more 
independence  than  exists  now  in  this  matter. 
The  last  thing  has  not  been  learned  in  sheep 
breeding,  nor  in  all  cases  the  most  profitable 
type  evolved.  In  England  there  is  a  constant 
evolution  going  on  and  breeds  do  not  remain  sta- 
tionary very  long.  Their  work  is  done  in  vari- 
ous ways,  usually  by  selection  and  careful  mat- 
ings,  sometimes  by  judicious  and  skillful  intro- 
duction of  new  blood.  This  is  more  easily  ac- 
complished there  than  here  owing  to  the  lack  of 
prejudice  against  such  practice  and  the  differ- 
ent rules  of  their  flock  books. 

Here  is  an  illustration.  It  throws  much  light 
upon  the  creation  of  breeds  in  the  good  Old 
World.  The  writer  met  a  breeder,  of,  let  us  say, 
Dartmoor  sheep.  (In  fact  it  was  another 
breed.)  This  man  was  exhibiting  at  the  Royal 
show,  and  pressed  the  writer  to  visit  his  pens 
and  inspect  the  sheep.  There  was  among  them 
an  especially  good  ram  and  the  following  conver- 
sation took  place.  "Writer,  '^he  is  a  splendid 
animal.  I  should  think  he  would  get  first  in 
his  place." 

"Indeed,  I  hope  he  will,  and  championship 
too,  and  I  think  he  is  sure  of  both  if  the  judge 
does  not  think  him  too  good. ' ' 

''But  how  can  he  be  too  good,  he  is  pure  Dart- 
moor in  blood  is  he  not?" 


M 


k.     1 

f^:.i 

1  ■/;?»*■ 

h 

"  '%M 

■%'S     '■ 

W^Kt^^m 

p:'-       ;<»;»«■;■? 

1 

m^ 

U/M 

*;:1| 

M 

jH: 

^■wm 

'^J^l 

■:-,r'jmm^ 

1  .;:^  ■ 

-     ^ 

'^'Mj^^^^ 

fay»-\l 

1 

^8S 

SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT. 


81 


''WelV  cautiously,  "I'll  not  deny  that  there 
may  be  a  drop  of  other  blood  in  him,  just  a  drop, 
and  not  too  much."  The  writer  saw  the  point, 
and  curiosity  led  him  back  after  the  showing. 
He  found  the  owner  jubilant.  "Did  your  ram 
win  first  ? ' ' 


RAMBOUILLET  RAM. 

"Indeed  he  won  first,  and  championship  too." 

"And  what  did  the  judge  sayf " 

"Indeed  the  judge  said  that  a  Dartmoor  could 
not  be  too  good. ' ' 

However,  the  writer  does  not  by  any  means 
advise  the  ordinary  breeder  to  attempt  to  help 


82  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

his  breed  by  an  admixture  of  foreign  blood. 
That  is  for  the  great  creators  with  unusual  in- 
stinct and  insight  and  patience  and  persever- 
ance to  undertake. 

FIXING  TYPE. 

Sometimes  one  has  in  his  flock  a  few  individ- 
uals, or  maybe  but  one,  that  is  of  unusual  beauty 
and  excellence.  This  may  arise  from  a  skillful 
combining  'Of  blood  lines  within  the  breed,  or 
there  may  be  born  within  the  flock  an  animal 
different  and  better  than  any  of  the  others.  We 
may  not  be  able  to  point  the  reason  for  this  dif- 
ference, this  betterment.  It  is,  perhaps,  a  ''mu- 
tation" as  the  newer  students  of  breeding  would 
say.  However  it  came,  it  is  such  that  we  wish 
very  much  to  fix  it  in  the  flock,  to  breed  many 
like  unto  it.  How  can  we  accomplish  this?  To 
^x  it  in  its  entirety  may  indeed  prove  impossi- 
ble, if  we  have  but  one  animal  possessing  this 
unusual  excellence.  The  best  that  we  can  do  is 
to  breed  it,  supposing  it  to  be  a  ram,  to  a  num- 
ber of  the  most  likely  ewes  and  save  the  ewe 
lambs  that  come  nearest  the  type  sought.  Should 
any  of  these  ewe  lambs  show  weakness  of  consti- 
tution they  must  be  rejected,  or  at  least  ignored 
in  this  effort,  and  the  strong  ones  may  be  bred 
to  their  own  sire.  The  progeny  of  them  will 
carry  three-fourths  of  his  blood,  and  will  be 
much  like  him  in  appearance  and  character. 
Supposing,  now,  there  happen  to  be^  two  lambs 
each  having  unusual  quality,  possessing  this  de- 
sired type,  each  sired  by  the  same  sire  but  by 
different  dams.    They  may  be  bred  together  and 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT.  85 

another  step  taken  towards  fixity  in  character. 

It  is  worth  considering  that  in  breeding  a  ewe 
to  her  own  sire  one  is  not  inbreeding  more  than 
Avhen  he  breeds  together  two  animals  born  from 
two  ewes  and  having  a  common  sire.  The  clos- 
est in-breeding  is  when  a  ram  is  bred  to  a  ewe 
having  the  same  mother  as  well  as  the  same  sire. 

There  is  absolutely  no  other  way  to  fix  type 
or  to  get  great  uniformity  in  a  flock  than  this 
system  of  inbreeding.     It  has  been  adopted  to 


BLACK-FACED  RAMS. 

a  greater  or  less  extent  by  all  the  great  improv- 
ers of  breeds. 

There  are  certain  dangers  inherent  in  a  sys- 
tem of  inbreeding.  Nature  permits  a  certain 
amount  of  it,  but  it  is  done  always  under  the 
law  of  combat.  The  strongest  male  gets  posses- 
sion of  the  females,  thus  nature's  weaklings, 
no  matter  what  the  form  or  fleece  are  weeded 
steadilv  out.    Under  Nature's  svstem  the  males 


86  SHEEP   FARMING    IN   AMERICA. 

of  all  animals  of  the  deer  and  sheep  families 
roam  far  during  the  breeding  season  and  it  is 
unlikely  that  incestuous  breeding  is  very 
common. 

The  effect  of  incestuous  breeding  is  not  well 
understood  and  there  are  men  who  deny  its  dan- 
gers. There  seems,  however,  to  be  abundant 
evidence  that  it  develops  an  accumulation  of 
weaknesses  of  constitution,  it  makes  the  progeny 
delicate  and  lessens  its  size  and  vitality. 

Furthermore,  it  often  seems  to  lead  to  partial 
or  total  sterility.  Not  to  go  deeply  into  this 
debatable  subject  we  will  say  that  inbreeding  is 
probably  absolutely  necessary  in  the  creation 
of  breeds  and  in  the  further  development  and 
fixing  of  types,  but  that  it  should  be  attempted 
only  by  the  skilled  breeder,  the  man  sure  that 
he  has  a  type  worth  fixing.  The  man  who  is 
breeding  for  the  market  will  find  that  he  will  do 
best  to  keep  as  far  from  in-breeding  as  possible. 
And  this  brings  us  to 

RENEWED  VITALITY  FROM   FRESH   BLOOD. 

There  is  something  wonderfully  invigorat- 
ing in  the  mingling  of  unrelated  bloods.  This 
has  long  been  recognized  by  the  advocates  of 
cross  breeding.  It  has  indeed  become  a  well- 
known  saying  that  ''cross-bred  animals  are 
most  thrifty.'^  ''Cross-bred  lambs  fatten  first." 
Among  cattle  breeders  the  truth  is  admitted, 
and  swine  breeders  very  often  cross-breed  for 
greater  vigor  and  thrift. 

It  is  not  so  generally  known  that  the  bring- 
ing together  of  unrelated  animals,  especially  of 


SELECTION  AND   MANAGEMENT.  87 

the  same  breed  if  they  may  happen  to  have  been 
grown  under  different  environment,  most  usu- 
ally brings  as  much  added  vigor  and  thrift  as 
though  two  distinct  breeds  had  been  brought 
together.  There  is  great  advantage  in  bring- 
ing vigor  without  losing  the  breed  and  its  spec- 
ial character  and  purpose. 

The  man,  then,  who  tinds  his  well-bred  flock 
needing  a  renewal  of  life,  needing  a  general 
''toning  up''  and  rejuvenation  should  not  resort 
to  cross-breeding,  supposing  that  he  has  al- 
ready a  breed  of  value  for  his  purpose,  but 
should  seek  within  his  own  breed  sires  as  re- 
motely related  as  he  can  find,  and  possessing 
as  much  health  and  vigor  as  he  can  find.     ^ 

He  will  find  a  marvelous  result  to  come  from 
this  new  mating  with  fresh  blood.  His  old  flock 
has  in  it  latent  excellencies  that  lie  dormant 
only  because  the  spark  of  life  has  burned  dimly 
for  a  time.  With  the  renewal  of  that  vital  spark 
and  the  greater  intensity  of  life  that  results 
these  old  and  almost  forgotten  excellencies  will 
be  in  a  manner  revived,  so  that  the  progeny  may 
be  not  merely  better  than  the  dams  but  better 
than  the  sire  as  well.  The  writer  has  seen  very 
striking  instances  of  this,  when  the  ewe  flock 
was  of  good  inheritance  and  only  suffering  from 
lack  of  fresh  blood. 

VITALITY   THE    THING  TO   STRIVE   FOR. 

The  sheep  under  domestication  is  not  so 
strong  as  we  would  like  to  see  it.  In  truth  there 
is  no  animal  under  our  care  with  less  resistance 
than  the  sheep.     Men  do  not  enough  consider 


88  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

this.  They  study  points,  like  the  quality  of  the 
fleece,  or  the  form  of  the  head,  the  covering  of 
the  legs  or  nose,  the  shape  of  the  ear,  and  doubt- 
less these  are  all  essentials,  but  the  first  and 
foremost  essential  in  a  profitable  flock  is  vigor, 
vitality,  life.  That,  if  it  is  abundant,  will  insure 
strong  lambs,  will  insure  ewes  with  right  mother 
instinct  and  milk  to  serve  that,  will  insure  lambs 
that  eat  and  thrive  and  grow  and  fatten  and 
bring  good  prices  at  the  market,  no  matter 
whether  the  ear  is  true  to  type  or  the  wool  grows 
on  the  nose  or  not.  So,  to  the  practical  market 
breeder,  the  writer  counsels,  seek  vigor,  build 
constitutions,  encourage  health  and  thrift  and 
the  profits  will  be  sure. 

SELECTION  OF  THE  EWES. 

Pure-bred  ewes  may  be  selected  much  as  the 
ram  is,  avoiding  overgrown  individuals,  and 
seeking  for  uniformity  of  type  and  evidence  of 
perfect  health.  In  buying  any  sheep  look  well 
to  the  skin,  that  it  be  pink  in  color  and  the 
fleece  bright  and  elastic,  for  a  pale  skin  and 
sunken  fleece  are  sure  indications  of  lack  of 
health  and  should  invariably  be  rejected,  no 
matter  how  good  the  blood  or  breeding.  The 
grades  that  are  to  be  made  the  body  of  the 
flock  may  be  of  Merino  foundation,  with  excel- 
lent expectation  of  success.  If  these  are  not  to 
be  found  near  at  home,  they  may  often  be 
bought  of  good  quality  at  the  great  markets 
when  discarded  by  the  ranchmen.  Usually  ewes 
are  sent  to  market  because  of  their  age  and  be- 
ginning lack  of  teeth  so  that  it  is  not  profitable 


SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT.  89 

to  retain  them  for  more  than  two  lamb  crops 
on  the  farm.  They  will  thrive  for  that  time 
and  having  saved  the  best  of  their  ewe  lambs, 
there  is  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  a  useful 
grade  flock,  while  the  mothers  may  be  fattened 
and  sent  back  to  market. 

While  foundation  ewes  may  be  had  from  the 
markets,  coming  thence  from  the  great  West- 
ern ranges,  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that 
the  native  stock  is  generally  better  and  to  be 
preferred,  when  available.  Western  ewes  hav- 
ing never  been  exposed  to  parasitic  infection, 
are  healthy,  true,  but  when  brought  to  Eastern 
farms  and  then  exposed  to  these  dangers,  they 
prove  less  resistant  than  natives.  The  climate 
of  the  Eastern  states  is  worse  than  they  are 
accustomed  to,  and  their  breeding  is  apt  to  be 
uncertain.  In  no  case  should  one  buy  ewes 
with  perceptible  Mexican  blood  in  them,  as 
these  sheep  readily  revert  to  a  very  fixed  and 
stubborn  type,  useful  on  the  desert,  but  too 
primitive  for  good  farm  sheep  husbandry. 

It  is  unwise  to  select  ewes  shearing  too  heavy 
fleeces.  A  moderately  heavy  fleece  betokens 
the  stronger  sheep  with  greater  feeding  capac- 
ity. Select  that  sort.  Choose  the  short-legged 
ewes,  with  good  backs,  and  as  thick  as  you  can 
find  them. 

The  best  time  of  the  year  to  stock  a  farm  with 
sheep  is  in  the  early  fall.  Getting  the  ewes 
home  then,  you  have  time  to  make  their  ac- 
quaintance while  work  is  not  crowding  on  the 
farm.  Then  you  can  see  to  the  mating,  and  dur- 
ing the  first  winter  things  will  go  as  you  plan, 


90  SHEEP  FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

and  you  are  certain  of  one  good  lamb  crop.  Your 
troubles  will  not  begin  for  six  or  eight  months. 
They  need  not  begin  at  all  if  you  will  observe 
carefully  some  rules  for  avoidance  of  parasites, 
to  be  laid  down  later. 

GETTING  HOME  WITH  THE  FLOCK. 

The  writer  remembers  with  delight  the  day 
when  he  drove  to  Woodland  Farm  his  first  flock 
of  ewes.  It  was  a  fine  sunny  day  in  November. 
The  sheep  were  well  selected  and  round  and 
plump,  all  young  ewes.  They  traveled  willingly 
along  the  country  road  through  a  quiet  neigh- 
borhood where  great  oaks  overarched  the  way 
and  stopping  now  and  then  to  browse  the  green 
grass  among  the  purpling  wild  asters. 

The  writer  was  but  a  boy  then,  newly  wed- 
ded filled  with  high  hopes  and  dreaming  brave 
dreams  of  the  future.  The  young  wife  met  him 
and  together  they  drove  home  the  little  flock! 
Happy  beginning  it  proved  to  be,  though  many 
lessons  remained  to  be  learned  and  many  dis- 
couragements to  be  fought  through,  yet  the 
coming  of  the  flock  meant  the  beginning  of  the 
upbuilding  of  the  old  farm  and  of  the  for- 
tunes of  its  owners. 

IMPORTANCE  OF  DIPPING. 

When  the  flock  comes  home  the  first  duty  is 
to  give  it  a  thorough  dipping.  There  are  two 
reasons  for  this :  the  one  that  there  may  be  ticks 
upon  the  sheep;  the  other  because  of  danger 
from  scab  germs.     Any  sheep  shipped  by  rail 


SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT  91 

or  penned  in  stock  yards  or  railway  stock  pens 
is  liable  to  be  infected  with  scab  germs.  One 
or  two  scab  insects  on  a  sheep  may  multiply 
until  the  entire  flock  is  scabby  in  a  few  months 
and  entail  great  suffering  upon  the  sheep  and 
loss  upon  the  owner.  Prevention  is  easy  and 
cheap,  though  cure  after  the  disease  has  prog- 
ressed far  is  harder.  Another  reason  for  dip- 
ping is  the  sheep  tick.  This  is  a  common  pest 
upon  farms  and  greatly  interferes  with  the 
thrift  of  sheep,  while  it  is  entirely  preventable, 
and  in  truth  upon  the  farm  of  the  writer  with 
a  thousand  sheep  there  are  years  when  not  a 
single  tick  is  to  be  found.  Sheep  ticks  so  far 
as  we  know  inhabit  no  other  animals  and  once 
rid  of  them  you  will  remain  rid  of  them  unless 
you  buy  infested  sheep  or  carry  ticks  upon  your 
own  clothing  or  they  are  brought  by  shearers. 

It  is  very  easy  and  inexpensive  entirely  to  rid 
a  flock  of  ticks  and  as  easy  to  prevent  the  attack 
of  scab. 

THE  SCAB  GERM 

This  is  a  minute  form  of  parasitic  insect  too 
small  to  be  easily  discovered  with  the  naked 
eye,  which  by  burrowing  in  the  skin,  or,  rather, 
by  irritating  the  skin  and  causing  it  to  form 
a  crust  by  its  own  exudations  beneath  which 
it  burrows,  greatly  afflicts  the  sheep,  causing 
loss  of  wool,  intense  itching,  loss  of  flesh,  and 
in  the  end  frequently  brings  death  from  the 
result  of  the  distress  and  emaciation  conse- 
quent upon  its  disturbance. 

The  scab  germ  multiplies  with  fearful  rapid- 


92  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

ity,  each  female  laying  in  two  or  three  days  15 
eggs,  of  which  ten  will  hatch  females  and  five 
males.  These  eggs  hatch  and  soon  mature  in- 
sects begin  laying  eggs.  Gerlach,  the  German 
authority,  says  that  in  15  days  one  female  will 
become  the  mother  of  15,  after  30  days  of  150, 
after  45  days  of  1,500,  after  60  days  of  15,000. 
Up  to  this  time  there  has  not  been  much  seen 
of  the  result  of  the  disease,  but  here  begins 
the  wholesale  onslaught  of  the  legion  upon  their 
hosts,  for  in  75  days  there  are  150,000,  and  in 
90  days  1,500,000!  Now  let  them  alone  for  a 
little  longer  and  the  result  is  sufficiently  ter- 
rifying. 

The  symptoms  of  scab  are  first  the  uneasi- 
ness of  the  sheep,  which  reaches  around  to  the 
affected  part  (that  is  apt  to  be  on  the  shoulder, 
neck  or  side,  though  it  may  appear  in  almost 
any  part,  but  wherever  it  appears  it  causes  in- 
tense itching)  and  bites  at  the  wool  or  paws 
with  its  foot  trying  to  scratch  the  spot.  If  now 
you  will  carefully  examine  the  animal  you  will 
find  under  the  wool  at  this  spot  of  infection 
the  skin  whitened  and  perhaps  exuding  a  watery 
secretion.  One  can  not  with  the  naked  eye  see 
the  scab  insects  at  work.  A  little  later  this  spot 
if  untreated  becomes  a  veritable  scab  and  the 
adjacent  regions  are  attacked.  It  rapidly 
spreads  throughout  the  flock,  the  affected  sheep 
rubbing  against  posts  and  racks,  dislodging 
mites  that  fasten  in  turn  upon  other  sheep. 

To  cure  scab  thorough  dipping  is  necessary. 
To  prevent  it  all  sheep  should  be  well  dipped 
after  every  railway  journey  or  exposure  in  in- 


SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT.  93 

fected  yards  or  pens.  Dipping  for  prevention 
is  cheap  and  easy.  Dipping  for  cure  is  not  so 
much  harder.  The  main  thing  is  to  dip,  and 
dip  thoroughly. 

THE  DIPPING  VAT. 

This  sliould  be  a  simple  trough  of  wood  or 
metal  or  concrete,  16  inches  wide,  4  feet  deep 
and  as  long  as  one  wishes  to  build.  The  shorter 
the  vat  the  slower  the  process  of  dipping,  as  the 
sheep  when  scabby  must  soak  for  two  minutes. 
For  a  farm  vat  a  length  of  10  or  12  feet  will  be 
ample,  as  time  can  be  allowed  them  thoroughly 
to  soak.  The  vat  must  be  narrow  so  that  the 
sheep  can  not  turn  around  in  it.  It  must  be 
deep  so  that  each  sheep  can  be  plunged  clear  in 
all  over  so  that  no  spot  will  remain  untreated. 
It  is  not  necessary  to  lower  the  sheep  into  the 
vat  or  to  raise  them  out  again;  they  may  as 
well  be  thrown  in  or  made  to  jump  in  at  one 
end,  and  that  end  of  the  vat  should  go  down 
perpendicularly;  at  the  other  end  there  must 
be  a  gradual  incline  up  which  they  can  walk. 
For  a  small  flock  the  bottom  level  of  the  vat 
need  not  be  more  than  four  feet  long,  with  an 
incline  beginning  there  and  running  gradually 
out  to  the  level  and  to  a  draining  platform  from 
which  the  drip  should  be  collected  and  dis- 
charged into  the  vat  again.  A  width  at  the  bot- 
tom of  6  inches  is  ample,  as  only  the  feet  go 
clear  down  and  the  less  width  the  less  liquor 
is  required  to  charge  the  vat.  In  case  there  is 
genuine  and  serious  affection  of  scab,  the  sheep 
should  be  held  rigidly  in  for  two  minutes,  and 


94  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

in  that  time  the  head  should  be  immersed  briefly 
twice.  If  there  is  only  suspected  infection,  how- 
ever, and  not  yet  any  outbreak,  the  sheep  may 
be  run  through  as  rapidly  as  convenient,  being 
only  sure  that  each  one  is  completely  immersed 
in  the  liquor,  for  they  will  remain  wet  for  24 
hours  at  least  after  emerging  from  the  dip. 
In  a  practice  of  many  years  the  writer  has  never 
had  scab  break  out  in  a  flock  thoroughly  dipped 
once  by  simply  running  the  sheep  through. 
There  are  other  essential  conditions  to  be  ob- 
served however,  which  will  be  mentioned  now. 

The  dip  should  be  hot.  This  does  not  mean 
warm,  nor  boiling,  but  as  hot  as  the  operator 
can  endure  to  plunge  in  his  bare  arm.  It  is 
better  to  test  the  temperature  in  this  manner 
than  by  use  of  a  thermometer.  If  the  latter 
is  used  a  temperature  of  110  deg.  Fahrenheit 
will  be  about  right,  but  the  bare  skin  is  the  best 
thermometer. 

Tlie  water  used  must  be  softened  or  ''broke." 
To  do  this  use  ordinary  concentrated  lye, 
enough  to  make  the  water  a  little  biting  and  give 
it  an  oily  feel  like  soap.  This  is  an  inexpensive 
process. 

The  dip,  whatever  it  is,  must  be  used  of  good 
strength.  There  are  various  good  preparations 
in  use,  most  of  which  are  effective  if  used  of 
sufficient  strength. 

On  the  farm  of  the  writer  the  coal  tar  prep- 
arations are  used  almost  always,  because  they 
prove  effective  and  cheap,  and  are  pleasant  to 
operate  with.    They  are  healing  to  the  skin  and 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT.  95 

effectually  dissipate  any  tendency  to  eye  dis- 
ease and  are  sure  death  to  all  forms  of  insect 
life  whatever.  These  coal  tar  dips  are  given 
various  names  as  ^'Zenoleum,''  ' '  Naptholemiij " 
^ '  13aytholeum, "  etc.,  and  are  similar  in  compo- 
sition and  effect.  The  directions  often  say  to 
use  them  at  a  strength  of  1  to  100,  that  is  of 
one  part  of  dip  to  100  parts  of  water;  this  is 
not  safe  in  combating  scab,  and  as  the  cost  of 
dijjping  is  mostly  in  labor,  the  writer  always 
uses  them  at  a  strength  of  one  to  forty,  and 
has  had  no  failure  to  cure  every  sort  of  para- 
sitism and  has  never  injured  a  sheep  by  its  use. 

In  truth,  one  winter  when  s-cab  broke  out 
among  some  undipped  sheep  (that  had  been 
dipped  in  Chicago,  but  imperfectly)  and  the 
farm  flock  became  infected,  we  dipped  all  in  the 
middle  of  winter,  turning  back  to  the  old  quar- 
ters, and  cured  each  case  effectually,  so  that 
there  has  never  been  a  reappearance  of  the  dis- 
ease upon  the  farm.  The  dipping  was  repeated 
in  ten  days  to  give  chance  for  eggs  to  hatch. 

This  dipping  so  thoroughly  also  eradicates 
ticks  which  is  no  small  matter. 

REGULAR  DIPPING  OF   THE   FARM   FLOCK. 

While  new  sheep  added  to  the  flock  should 
be  dipped  whenever  they  arrive,  barring  ex- 
ceedingly cold  weather  the  regular  flock  needs 
its  annual  bath,,  and  this  should  be  given  imme- 
diately after  shearing,  when  ewes  and  lambs 
may  all  be  dipped  at  a  nominal  cost.  It  takes 
nearly  a  gallon  of  liquid  to  dip  a  yearling  of 


96  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

medium  size  with  its  fleece  on,  but  to  dip  a 
shorn  sheep  takes  not  more  than  a  quart,  and 
t]ie  little  lamb  a  small  amount.  This  annual 
cleaning  up  prevents  ticks  getting  foothold  and 
heads  off  a  lot  of  other  troubles,  such  as  sore 
eyes  and  mouths,  canke-r  of  teats,  and  sheep  lice. 

It  is  not  a  troublesome  operation  to  dip  a 
flock  of  sheep.  The  water  should  be  conveni- 
ently at  hand  and  some  means  of  heating  it.  An 
open  kettle  of  30  to  40  gallons  capacity  will 
serve  if  nothing  else  is  convenient ;  red  hot  irons 
may  be  thrown  into  the  tank  to  lieat  what  is 
left  from  a  previous  dipping;  there  should  be  a 
large  pen  to  hold  the  sheep  and  a  small  one 
close  to  the  tank  for  a  catching  pen.  Just  at  tlie 
end  of  the  tank  tliere  may  be  an  incline  about 
3  feet  long  covered  with  smooth  sheet  metal, 
and  this  may  be  greased  so  that  when  a  sheep 
steps  on  it  or  is  lifted  upon  it,  it  will  easily  slide 
down  into  the  plunge. 

A  force  of  five  men,  two  of  whom  keep  the  dip 
mixed  and  replenished,  and  three  of  whom  put 
in  and  take  out  sheep,  will  readily  dip  100  in  an 
hour,  though  if  they  have  their  fleeces  on  they 
should  drain  for  a  longer  time  than  would  make 
this  practicable.  It  is  not  often  necessary  to  as- 
sist the  sheep  to  climb  out,  but  there  should  be 
one  man  ready  and  watching  with  care  to  see 
that  all  are  fully  submerged  and  none  stay  in 
too  long.  The  writer  has  never  seen  pregnant 
ewes,  handled  with  care  in  the  dipping  vat. 
abort  their  lambs,  and  has  frequently  dipped 
500  without  killing  or  injuring  one. 

The  cheapest  tank  is  made  of  galvanized  iron. 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT.  9? 

The  best  is  made  of  concrete,  which  will  endure 
forever  if  rightly  made. 

SUMMARY  OF  DIPPING. 

Dip  every  sheep  when  it  comes  to  the  farm  as 
soon  as  it  is  rested,  especially  with  care  when 
it  may  have  come  by  rail. 

When  scab  infection  is  suspected,  but  none  is 
visible,  dip  once  by  simple  and  complete  immer- 
sion in  a  dip  hot  and  strong  enough. 

When  scab  is  already  in  evidence  let  the  af- 
fected sheep  soak  in  the  dip  for  two  minutes, 
first  having  rubbed  and  loosened  up  the  scabs. 
After  ten  days  dip  again;  always  turn  freshly 
dipped  sheep  into  their  sheds  so  that  they  may 
rub  their  wet  fleeces  against  the  wood  work  and 
disinfect  that. 

Dip  the  whole  flock  every  spring  if  there  are 
ticks,  immediately  after  shearing,  being  sure 
that  no  sheep  or  lamb  escapes. 

After  the  flock  is  clean  it  will  remain  clean 
if  newly  bought  sheep  are  dipped  before  being 
added  to  it.  There  is  no  necessity  to  dip  a 
clean  flock. 

At  shearing  time  should  the  owner  shear  his 
own  sheep  and  there  be  but  two  or  three  ticks 
to  each  animal  he  should  cut  them  in  two  with 
the  shears  and  dip  the  lambs. 

There  is  no  more  need  of  having  ticks  on  a 
sheep  farm  than  there  is  of  wolves. 

PALL  TREATMENT  OF  THE  EWE  FLOCK. 

The  ewes  being  brought  presumably  to  new 
and   fresh  pastures   and   rid   of  their  vermin 


98  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

thrive  admirably.  If  grass  is  not  abundant 
they  ought  to  have  a  little  extra  feed  at  times  as 
it  is  Nature's  way  to  then  make  them  gain.  A 
field  of  rape  in  which  they  may  run,  alternat- 
ing at  their  pleasure  with  grass,  makes  them 
improve  rapidly.  Pumpkins  fed  on  grass,  seeds 
and  all,  are  excellent  for  the  ewes.  Not  only 
are  the  pumpkins  good  feed,  but  their  seeds, 
besides  being  nourishing,  have  in  them  great 
medicinal  virtues.  Pumpkin  seeds  are  efficient 
vermifuges.  One  of  the  best  treatments  for 
tape  worm  in  the  human  subject  is  the  infusion 
of  pumpkin  seeds.  Worms  destroy  more  sheep 
than  dogs  do,  and  it  must  be  the  constant  study 
of  the  shepherd  to  avoid  them. 

The  reason  for  desiring  the  flock  to  thrive  at 
this  time  is  that  it  is  near  the  mating  season, 
and  if  the  sheep  are  in  fine,  thrifty  condition, 
the  ewes  will  the  more  rapidly  conceive  and 
drop  a  greater  number  of  twins. 

Yet  another  reason  is  tliat  a  sheep  which 
starts  into  winter  in  good  thrift  comes  through 
much  stronger  with  less  feed  than  one  that 
starts  in  in  poor  flesh. 

A  handful  of  grain  fed  in  October  or  No- 
vember is  worth  a  peck  of  feed  to  a  thin  ewe 
in  January  not  that  the  flock  should  be  neg- 
lected later  on,  but  it  is  essential  that  sheep 
should  enter  winter  well  fortified  and  strong. 

MATING. 

Before  the  mating  begins  one  should  care- 
full  v   ^0  over  his  flock  and   assort  the   ewes. 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT.  99 

Ewe  lambs  must  be  taken  out  and  none  bred 
that  are  not  past  a  year  old.  Old  ewes  that  have 
lost  their  teeth  and  are  evidently  not  quite  able 
to  go  safely  through  the  winter  and  nourish 
well  their  lambs,  are  better  consigned  to  the  fat- 
tening pen.  At  least  there  should  be  a  mark  put 
upon  them  that  will  indicate  their  condition, 
so  that  they  may  be  given  extra  care  and  atten- 
tion. Quite  often  with  such  ewes  it  is  most 
profitable  to  breed  them  and  by  careful  feeding 
keep  them  as  strong  as  you  dare  till  lambing 
time,  after  this  to  give  them  a  large  allowance 
of  grain,  ground  if  need  be,  so  as  to  push  them 
with  their  lambs,  and  they  will  often  make  as 
good  lambs  as  the  other  ewes  and  be  themselves 
ready  to  follow  their  otf spring  to  market  a  few 
weeks  after  the  lambs  have  left  them.  A  suit- 
able mark  for  these  culled  ewes  is  to  clip  off  the 
end  of  one  ear. 

Yet  another  thing  for  which  to  search,  is  a 
spoiled  udder  or  a  ewe  without  perfect  teats. 
Quite  often  such  ewes  are  found,  and  to  have 
them  drop  lambs  without  ability  to  suckle  them 
is  to  entail  great  disappointment  and  trouble 
on  the  shepherd. 

There  is  a  temptation  to  breed  the  young, 
immature  ewes,  particularly  if  they  are  well 
grown,  but  it  is  wiser  not  to  do  this,  as  it  leads 
to  the  steady  decrease  in  size  of  your  sheep, 
and  by  weakening  the  ewe's  constitution  be- 
cause of  the  heavy  drain  upon  her,  you  make 
her  the  more  liable  to     attacks  of  parasites, 


100  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

those  foes  of  the  sheep  and  shepherd  that  never 
can  be  forgotten  with  safety. 

TUTTING  IN  THE  RAM. 

The  ewe  carries  her  lamb  from  142  to  150 
days,  or,  roughly,  five  months.  It  is  well  to  so 
time  the  putting  in  of  the  ram  as  to  bring  the 
lambs  at  the  season  when  they  will  best  fit  in 
with  your  scheme  of  management.  Much  de- 
pends here  upon  the  breed  under  consideration, 
for  it  is  natural  for  the  Dorset  and  the  Merino 
to  drop  their  lambs  very  early,  so  that  they  m^y 
be  mated  with  the  ram  in  September,  when  the 
lambs  will  come  early  in  February,  or  if  bred 
in  August  they  will  come  in  January,  or  in  July 
to  have  them  in  December.  With  Shropshires 
it  is  unusual  for  lambs  to  appear  so  early  as 
December  or  January,  though  the  middle  of 
September  is  an  excellent  time  to  mate  them; 
with  Southdowns  the  same  time  will  serve, 
though  they  naturally  lamb  later,  and  with 
Cotswolds  and  Lincolns  it  is  unusual  for  lambs 
to  be  born  before  March  or  April.  If  the  shep- 
herd has  good  quarters  for  his  flock  he  may  as 
well  try  for  some  early  lambs ;  they  will  serve 
to  occupy  his  time  in  winter,  and  coming  then 
when  he  has  leisure,  he  will  lose  but  a  small 
proportion  of  them.  Winter  lambs  well  nour- 
ished in  infancy  make  much  stronger  and  better 
sheep  than  late  lambs,  as  they  go  on  to  grass  so 
big  and  lusty  as  to  defy  many  of  the  evils  that 
attack  later  lambs. 

MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  RAM. 

The  ram  during  the  summer  days  should  have 


SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT.  101 

the  run  of  a  small  lot  with  access  to  shade,  with 
abundant  food,  yet  not  too  much,  and  with  com- 
pam^  of  other  rams  or  of  a  few  wethers,  or  some 
ram  lambs  or  even  with  a  few  ewes  running  with 
him.  He  should  have  careful  attention  that  he 
remains  in  perfect  health,  especial  care  being 
taken  not  to  put  him  on  a  piece  of  infected  grass 
where  he  may  develop  parasites.  Before  the 
breeding  season  he  should  be  entirely  separated 
from  the  ewes,  and  if  not  in  strong  condition, 
given  a  regular  feed  of  oats  and  bran  or  some 
similar  feed  twice  a  day,  not  enough  to  fatten 
him,  but  to  put  him  in  vigorous  condition. 

It  is  wise  not  to  ever  turn  him  with  the  ewes, 
but  better  to  bring  them  to  him  each  morning 
early  while  it  is  yet  cool,  penning  them  in  a  small 
pen  so  that  there  is  just  room  enough  for  him  to 
move  about  readily  among  them,  and  where  they 
can  not  easily  escape  you  when  you  desire  to 
catch  some  of  them. 

After  the  ewes  are  brought  up,  let  him  come 
in  with  them,  and  he  will  soon  single  out  one 
that  may  be  in  heat.  Allow  him  to  serve  her 
once  only  and  immediately  put  her  out,  mark- 
ing her  at  the  same  time  so  that  you  will  know 
that  she  has  been  bred.  It  is  wise  to  use  a  dif- 
ferent color  in  marking  each  week,  thus  all  the 
ewes  that  are  bred  the  first  week  will  be  marked 
red,  all  the  next  week  blue,  the  third  week  yel- 
low; the  fourth  week  black,  the  fifth  week  green 
and  so  on.  This  marking  is  done  with  a  brush 
and  a  daub  of  paint,  on  the  back  of  the  head  or 
on  the  shoulder  is  a  good  place. 

After  the  first  ewe  has  been  taken  out,  the 


102  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

ram  will  proceed  quietly  to  search  for  another. 
Unless  he  is  a  very  vigorous  ram,  it  is  unwise  to 
allow  him  to  serve  more  than  four  during  a 
morning,  and  if  a  large  number  seem  to  be  in 
heat,  it  will  be  well  to  get  them  up  again  after 
sunset  in  the  evening.  The  ram  has  an  exceed- 
ingly vigorous  reproductive  system,  and  has 
power  to  impregnate  more  females  than  most 
animals,  even  though  his  work  is  confined  to  a 
short  period  each  year. 

The  ewes  that  are  served  and  put  out  should 
be  put  by  themselves  and  not  returned  to  the 
flock  for  three  days,  else  they  may  be  still  in  heat 
and  receive  unnecessary  attention  from  the  male. 
One  service  will  as  surely  impregnate  as  more 
and  will  beget  stronger  lambs. 

Managed  in  this  way  a  ram  will  easily  care 
for  40  or  50  ewes  and  many  serve  100  if  he  is 
unusually  strong  and  vigorous  and  well  cared 
for.  He  should  be  kept  quiet  all  day,  in  a  cool 
place,  and  well  fed  on  stimulating  food  such 
as  oats  and  bran  with  clover  hay. 

One  advantage  from  this  way  of  managing 
ewes  is  that  one  will  know  those  that  do  not 
take  the  ram  at  all  and  can  put  them  out  of  the 
flock,  and  by  giving  them  a  little  extra  feed, 
they  will  soon  fatten,  when  they  may  be  sold. 

There  is  a  practice  not  very  common  among 
shepherds  of  forcibly  holding  ewes  that  per- 
sistently reject  the  ram,  and  allowing  him  to 
serve  them.  They  will  not  often  conceive  from 
this  service,  but  it  occasionally  causes  them  to 
come  in  heat  naturally  in  from  ten  days  to  three 
weeks.    Some  earlv  lamb  breeders  make  consid- 


SELECTION  AND  MANAGEMENT.  103 

erable  use  of  this  practice.     It  can  do  the  ewe 
no  harm  in  case  it  is  unsuccessful. 

CARE  OF  THE  PEEGNANT  EWE. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  stumbling  block  in  the 
way  of  the  inexperienced  shepherd  is  in  the 
care  of  his  ewe  flock  during  pregnancy.  Either 
he  feeds  them  too  well,  or  on  unsuitable  foods, 
or  he  deprives  them  of  air  and  exercise,  or  he 
goes  to  the  other  extreme  and  lets  them  brave 
the  storms  without  enough  food.  Either  condi- 
tion will  surely  be  fatal  to  his  fortune,  though 
of  the  two  extremes  the  worse  is  that  of  too 
much  food  and  no  exercise.  Such  a  course  is 
surely  fatal  to  his  hopes  of  a  large  crop  of 
strong  lambs. 

If  one  would  have  success  with  these  preg- 
nant ewes  he  should  consider  their  condition  in 
a  state  of  nature.  Then  they  roamed  the  hills, 
selecting  the  higher  points  as  places  to  sleep; 
they  sheltered  beside  rocks  or  under  pines. 
They  were  not  in  large  flocks  and  found  suf- 
ficient food  as  they  were  not  restrained  by 
fences.  They  had  abundant  exercise  and  al- 
ways fresh  air.  Doubtless  when  their  lambs 
came  they  were  very  strong  and  vigorous,  able 
soon  to  run  beside  their  mothers.  Under  ranch 
conditions  today  lambs  are  born  very  strong, 
and  it  is  rare  to  find  one  so  weak  as  to  be  un- 
able to  suck  without  aid. 

The  writer  remembers  vividly  his  first  experi- 
ence with  lambing  ewes.  The  first  winter  he 
let  them  have  the  run  of  a  pasture,  with  shel- 


104  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

ter,  fed  clover  and  corn  stover,  and  the  result 
was  a  good  lamb  crop.  A  few  of  these  lambs 
were  so  remarkably  promising,  one  selling  for 
$18  at  weaning  time,  that  he  was  encouraged  to 
attempt  to  do  much  better  the  next  year.  That 
winter  proved  to  be  quite  cold  and  stormy  so 
he  kept  them  rather  close.  Having  learned  the 
value  of  wheat  bran  as  a  bone  and  muscle  build- 
er, he  fed  these  ewes  about  all  the  bran  they 
wanted,  and  they  consumed  a  great  deal,  with 
clover  hay. 

The  lamb  crop  came  early,  and  the  lambs 
were  strong,  being  the  product  of  hand  coupling 
with  a  vigorous  sire.  The  difficulty  was  in  the 
enormous  size  of  many  of  them,  some  being  so 
large  of  bone  that  it  was  nearly  impossible  for 
them  to  be  delivered  at  all.  One  Shropshire 
weighed  17  pounds  at  birth!  Its  mother  died 
soon  after  its  delivery,  and  the  lamb  itself  was 
lost  through  unskillful  feeding.  The  net  result 
was  a  small  crop  of  magnificent  lambs  secured 
at  a  Cost  of  great  labor  and  pains. 

The  next  year  an  old  friend  and  shepherd 
counseled  him  to  adopt  a  radically  different  pol- 
icy. This  was  to  allow  the  flock  to  run  in  the  pas- 
ture, sheltering  in  open  sheds  and  under  the 
trees,  and  subsisting  solely  on  coarse  forage 
such  as  corn  stover  and  oat  straw.  Having  in 
the  barns  a  great  number  of  lambs  that  were 
being  fed  for  fattening,  there  was  some  excuse 
for  neglecting  the  ewes. 

Unfortunately  ewes  in  winter  time  because  of 
their  long  fleeces,  appear  to  be  in  good  con- 
dition when  they  are  not,  and  the  writer  had 


SELECTION   AND   MANAGEMENT  105 

no  idea  how  very  thin  in  flesh  they  were  becom- 
ing nntil  lambs  started  to  drop  in  April.  Then 
his  troubles  began.  The  lambs  came  strong 
enough,  as  a  rule,  nor  were  they  too  large  to  be 
delivered  easily  but  the  ewes  having  been 
poorly  nourished,  had  no  milk  for  them,  and 
would  not  own  them  at  all.  The  truth  is  that 
there  is  a  direct  connection  between  the  milk 
glands  of  an  animal  and  the  part  of  the  brain 
where  lies  love  of  offspring,  and  in  the  sheep 
at  least  it  is  rare  to  find  mother  love  where 
there  is  no  milk  to  go  along  with  it. 

The  result  was  that  the  writer  was  put  to  his 
wits'  end  to  make  the  ewes  own  their  lambs  and 
to  try  by  good  feeding  to  bring  them  to  their  milk 
flow.  Many  lambs  were  lost,  and  the  whole 
result  was  disheartening. 

The  simple  truth  is  that  pregnant  ewes  must 
have  so  far  as  possible  natural  conditions.  They 
must  have  enough  food,  and  that  of  a  suitable 
nature  properly  to  nourish  the  growing  foetus 
without  stimulating  too  much  the  development 
of  bone.  They  must  come  to  lambing  in  good 
heart,  what  the  farmer  would  call  ''fat,"  but 
not  according  to  the  butcher's  standard.  They 
must  have  abundant  opportunity  to  exercise 
and  to  get  fresh  air.  Thus  treated  their  lambs 
should  come  as  strong  as  wild  things  and  give 
little  trouble.  It  is  the  natural  thing  for  a  lamb 
to  be  born  strong,  to  live  at  birth,  since  all  its 
ancestors  have  done  the  like  since  lambs  were 
born  into  the  world. 

There  is  danger  in  well  bred  ewes  highly  fed 
upon  such  foods  as  wheat  bran  and  clover  or 


106  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

alfalfa  hay  that  the  lambs  may  have  excessive 
bony  development,  and  it  is  not  now  the  prac- 
tice of  the  writer  to  feed  much  bran  before  wean- 
ing, but  to  give  instead  bright,  sweet  corn  stover 
and  alfalfa  hay.  Too  much  alfalfa  hay  alone  will 
sometimes  make  the  lambs  rather  large  at  birth. 
If  the  coarse  forage  is  not  abundant  and  of  ex- 
cellent quality,  the  shepherd  should  feed  a  small 
daily  allowance  of  grain.  A  mixture  of  corn 
and  oats  may  be  used,  which  should  be  fed 
in  wide  flat-bottomed  troughs,  so  that  the  ewes 
can  not  rapidly  swallow  it  as  they  will  when 
fed    in  V-shaped  troughs. 

A  run  to  a  blue-grass  pasture  is  an  excellent 
thing  and  if  the  grass  is  permitted  to  grow  up 
in  the  fall  and  lie  uneaten,  no  small  part  of  the 
sustenance  of  the  flock  will  come  from  that.  A 
sheltering  bit  of  woodland,  in  which  they  may 
wander,  affords  shelter  and  amusement,  and 
well  repays  the  ground  on  which  it  stands. 

While  the  flock  should  be  out  of  doors  every 
fine  winter's  day,  yet  the  shepherd  should  have 
his  charges  in  mind  and  see  that  each  ewe  comes 
to  the  barn  before  storms  break,  and  always 
the  flock  should  be  shut  in  at  night.  Yet  unless 
the  weather  is  very  seyere  they  should  have 
much  fresh  air  in  their  night  quarters— a  large 
opening  on  the  leeward  side  is  the  best  pro- 
vision. 


CHAPTER  V. 


CARE  OF  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG  LAMB. 

THE  EWE  BARN. 

A  breeding  ewe  requires  about  12  square  feet 
of  floor  surface.  There  should  be  provided  in 
the  ewe  barn  movable  feed  racks,  long  and  nar- 
row, of  such  type  that  they  will  form  partitions 
wherever  needed.  These  racks  are  best  made 
24  inches  wide,  36  inches  high,  with  a  tight  bot- 
tom about  6  inches  up  from  the  ground.  The 
sides  about  this  bottom  may  be  of  6  inch  boards, 
forming  a  shallow  feed  box.  On  this  founda- 
tion will  be  nailed,  vertically,  slats  1/2  inch  thick, 
4  inches  wide  and  30  inches  long.  These  slats 
may  be  placed  7  inches  apart,  so  that  the  sheep 
can  thrust  their  heads  clear  into  the  rack  to  feed. 
There  will  then  be  much  less  loss  of  feed  than  if 
the  slats  are  placed  close  together,  for  in  that 
case  the  ewes  pull  all  the  hay  through  the  cracks 
and  drop  most  of  it  under  their  feet.  There  will 
be  a  little  dust  get  into  the  wool  of  the  necks  in 
feeding  in  such  a  rack,  but  it  is  a  trifling  dam- 
age compared  with  the  loss  of  forage  in  any 


^ '  feed-saving ' '  rack. 


(107) 


108 


SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 


After  using  many  forms  of  racks,  the  writer 
now  uses  these  in  preference  to  any  others,  for 
in  them  may  be  fed  grain,  bran,  silage  or  any 
sort  of  hay. 

The  ewe  barn  must  have  provision  for  most 
ample  ventilation.  That  is  best  accomplished 
by  having  on  two  sides  clear  across  the  barn 


SOUTHDOWN  EWES 


a  system  of  doors  so  arranged  that  they  are 
divided  in  halves  horizontally,  the  lower  part 
of  the  door  swinging  as  an  ordinary  gate  swings, 
the  upper  half  hinged  at  its  upper  edge  and 
lifting  up  to  a  horizontal  position,  upheld  by 
wooden  props  or  pendant  chains. 

By  means  of  these  upper  doors  the  ventilation 


CARE   OF   THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG   LAMB.       109 

may  be  made  so  thorough  that  the  air  will  be 
practically  as  good  within  the  barn  as  outside,  or 
in  colder  weather  one  side  may  be  completely 
closed  and  the  other,  to  leeward,  opened  or  in 
very  cold  weather  all  may  be  closed  tight. 

It  will  be  disastrous  to  confine  the  sheep  in  a 
poorly  ventilated  building.  Loss  of  thrift,  colds 
and  catarrh  will  surely  result. 

In  England  sheep  are  almost  never  confined  to 
buildings  at  all.  Their  usual  mild  winters  make 
outdoor  feeding  practicable  with  them,  whereas 
it  is  not  so  with  us.  We  must  feed  in  racks  dur- 
ing the  time  that  they  are  hurdling  off  turnips 
in  winter  and  much  of  the  loss  of  thrift  and  char- 
acter of  English  sheep  bred  here  is  owing  to 
unskillful  entering  in  poorly  ventilated  barns. 
During  the  winter  season  the  shepherd  has  op- 
portunity to  get  well  acquainted  with  his  flock. 
He  should  learn  to  know  each  ewe  by  her  counte- 
nance; and  she  should  learn  to  know  him  and 
to  know  so  little  of  evil  of  him  that  he  can  ap- 
proach any  one  and  catch  her  without  difficulty 
and  without  frightening  her.  A  shepherd's 
crook  that  will  catch  by  the  hind  leg  is  useful  in 
the  sheep  fold,  though  I  prefer  for  ordinary  use 
the  old-fashioned  crook  that  catches  by  the  neck. 
Any  blacksmith  can  make  in  a  few  moments  a 
crook  of  an  old  horse-rake  tooth,  set  in  a  long 
wooden  handle.  It  should  be  so  shaped  that  it 
will  with  a  little  pressure  slip  over  the  neck  of 
the  ewe,  widening  at  the  opening  considerably  to 
make  it  easy  of  use,  and  the  end  should  be  turned 
over  in  a  little  coil  so  that  it  can  not  accidentally 
wound  the  skin. 


110  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

Before  the  lambs  are  due  it  is  well  to  turn  each 
ewe  up  on  her  rump,  using  her  gently,  and  with 
shears  clip  the  wool  away  from  the  udder ;  par- 
ticularly the  little  locks  that  might  be  seized  by 
the  lamb  when  searching  for  the  teat. 

Before  the  lambing  season  the  shepherd 
should  provide  himself  with. some  little  panels, 
made  of  light  wood,  like  doors,  each  panel  36" 
high  and  48"  long.  Two  of  these  panels  should 
be  hinged  together  at  the  ends  so  that  they  may 
be  folded  together  and  laid  away  or  opened  in 
the  shape  of  the  letter  L.  The  use  of  these  is  to 
make  little  pens  in  which  to  place  ewes  about  to 
lamb,  or  newly  lambed,  to  prevent  their  lambs 
straying  away  and  getting  mixed  through  the 
flock.  Thus  many  lambs  will  be  saved  that 
otherwise  would  be  lost  and  much  of  the  usual 
vexatious  work  of  the  shepherd  avoided.  To 
use  these  panels,  one  is  opened  at  right  angles  in 
the  corner  of  the  lambing  room  and  by  aid  of 
hooks  fastened  at  the  free  ends  to  the  wall  thus 
making  a  pen  4'x4'.  As  it  is  tight,  the  lamb  can 
not  creep  out,  and  the  ewe  being  unable  to  see 
out  is  made  more  tranquil.  When  there  is  need 
of  another  such  pen  it  is  set  up  alongside  the 
first  one  and  thus  on  until  a  row  has  been  erect- 
ed across  the  end  of  the  building.  If  there  be 
need,  another  row  can  join  these. 

The  observant  shepherd  can  usually  foretell 
the  advent  of  a  lamb,  for  the  ewe  shows  by  her 
appearance  and  her  actions  that  she  is  expecting 
it.  Because  of  her  instinct,  indeed  it  is  not  un- 
usual to  see  a  ewe  hunting  anxiously  about  for 
her  lamb  before  it  has  been  born  at  all!     It  is 


'"IP' 


.^.jr^m'^^^M-:'^.f^....   ..^ 


CARE  OP  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG   LAMB.      113 

wise  to  place  her  by  herself  before  this  event  oc- 
curs, if  it  conveniently  can  be  done. 

CARE  AT  LAMBING  TIME. 

There  should  be  small  difficulty  in  the  ewe  de- 
livering her  lamb  if  she  has  been  rightly  fed  and 
treated.  There  will  probably  be  no  occasion  for 
interference  of  the  shepherd,  yet  he  should  be 
watchful,  and  when  she  has  been  in  distress  for 
some  time  without  effect  he  should  not  hesitate 
to  go  to  her  assistance.  The  difficulty  may  be 
one  of  wrong  presentation.  Naturally  the  lamb 
comes  with  front  feet  first,  and  nose  just  be- 
tween them.  Even  when  the  presentation  is 
right  the  shepherd  may  be  of  great  help  some- 
times, if  the  lamb  is  of  large  size,  by  gently  man- 
ipulating the  parts,  pulling  a  little  at  the  lamb 
and  pushing  the  external  parts  of  the  ewe  back 
until  the  head  is  free.  Then  the  nose  may  be 
wiped  so  that  the  lamb  can  breathe  and  in  a  mo- 
ment, after  the  ewe  has  again  begun  her  labor, 
you  may  gently  draw  the  lamb  outward  until  the 
shoulders  are  delivered— the  hardest  part.  I 
usually  leave  her  then,  for  the  hips  and  hind  legs 
come  away  readily,  and  the  ewe  generally  gels 
up  at  once  and  seeks  her  lamb  and  proceeds  to 
lick  it  and  caress  it  with  her  tongue.  It  should 
soon  try  to  stand  and  in  about  15  minutes  will 
try  to  suck.  If  it  finds  the  teat  without  aid  you 
may  call  it  half  raised. 

Usually  it  is  well  to  help  the  lamb  to  its  first 
meal,  especially  if  the  ewe  is  young,  and  it  is  her 
first  born.  The  easiest  way  to  do  this  is  to  gently 
set  her  on  her  rump,  as  though  you  were  going 


114  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

to  shear  her,  kneeling  down  behind  her  and  with 
her  shoulders  resting  against  you.  First  start 
the  milk  from  her  teats,  tlien  taking  the  lamb 
with  the  right  hand  (the  left  arm  being  under  the 
ewe  to  support  her),  lay  it  down  on  its  side  and 
opening  its  mouth  insert  the  teat,  when  it  will 
usually  begin  to  suck  immediately.  Let  it  get  a 
pretty  fair  belly  full  and  its  chances  are  bright 
for  coining  on  in  good,  strong  fashion. 

The  shepherd  should  observe  whether  it  aft- 
erward goes  to  sucking  on  its  own  account,  and 
if  it  does  there  need  not  be  many  slips  between 
that  lamb  and  a  ten  dollar  bill,  if  it  is  born  right ! 

Supposing  there  is  a  wrong  presentation. 
The  shepherd  is  fortunate  if  he  has  a  small  hand, 
for  it  is  his  duty  to  help  put  things  right.  We 
can  not  here  give  details  of  how  this  is  to  be 
done,  but  knowing  the  natural  presentation  the 
shepherd  should  be  able  to  study  it  out  for  him- 
self. He  must  carefully  grease  his  hand  with 
lard  or  vaseline  and  avoid  so  far  as  possible  any 
rough  treatment  or  injury  to  the  delicate  parts. 
The  writer  has  taken  several  lambs  away  with 
hind  feet  first  without  difficulty,  but  should  the 
head  be  turned  back  it  must  be  straightened  be- 
fore delivery  is  possible. 

There  will  be  much  more  difficulty  with  young 
ewes  than  with  older  ones,  so  that  the  inex- 
perienced shepherd  is  wise  if  he  begins  with 
ewes  most  of  which  have  lambed  once  or  twice 
before  they  came  to  his  care. 

In  very  cold  weather  the  lambing  barn  should 
be  made  as  comfortable  as  possible,  without  de- 
priving it  altogether  of  fresh  air,  and  even  then 


CARE   OF   THE  EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      115 

when  twin  lambs  are  born  there  may  be  need  of 
assistance  or  one  of  them  may  perish  before  it  is 
made  dry  and  given  milk  to  supply  inward  heat. 
It  is  an  excellent  plan  to  have  at  hand  a  tub  or 
half  barrel;  a  salt  barrel  sawed  in  two  serves 
well  and  in  this  have  a  jug  of  hot  water.  The 
lamb  may  be  laid  in  this  tub  and  it  covered  with  a 
blanket  until  its  mother  can  give  it  her  attention. 
Or  a  chilled  lamb,  if  only  slightly  chilled,  may 
be  warmed  in  this  manner.  An  excellent  plan 
and  simpler  if  the  shepherd  is  at  hand  when  the 
first  of  twins  is  born  is  to  lay  it  in  a  tub  on  two 
or  three  inches  of  wheat  bran  and  cover  it  all 
but  the  nose  with  more  bran.  It  will  keep  as 
warm  as  toast  there  and  the  bran  will  help  ab- 
sorb moisture.  Then  when  it  is  given  to  the  ewe 
she  will  lick  off  the  adhering  bran  without  in- 
jury to  herself. 

Supposing  that  through  some  accident  the 
new-born  lamb  has  gotten  thoroughly  chilled; 
the  best  manner  of  warming  it  is  by  immersion 
in  water  as  hot  as  one  can  bear  his  hand  in. 
This  will  soon  become  cooled  and  more  hot 
water  should  be  added,  taking  care  of  course 
not  to  scald  the  lamb.  When  warm  and  re- 
vived it  should  be  wiped  dry  and  taken  to  its 
mother  and  held  till  it  is  supplied  with  her  milk. 
The  writer  has  revived  in  this  manner  lambs 
seemingly  dead.  It  is  not  wise  to  give  it  cow's 
milk  if  it  can  be  avoided  and  if  it  is  necessary 
the  cow's  milk  should  be  diluted  with  some  quite 
warm  water.  Some  shepherds  give  a  drop  or 
two  of  whiskey  to  a  chilled  lamb  and  it  may 
sometimes  prove  beneficial. 


116  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

The  next  day  after  the  lamb  is  born  the  ewe 
should  be  milked  clean.  The  shepherd  should 
then  observe  whether  the  lamb  is  taking  her 
milk  all  right,  and  if  there  is  much  surplus  he 
should  milk  it  out  every  day  clean  until  such 
tmie  as  the  lamb  can  use  it.  This  is  especially 
necessary  with  Dorset  ewes  and  some  other 
breeds  occasionally  need  attention.  It  is  not 
well  for  the  lamb  to  take  in  the  milk  first  se- 
creted after  being  retained  stagnant  in  the 
dam's  udder  for  an  undue  length  of  time.  Such 
large  milking  ewes  while  troublesome  raise  the 
finest  and  most  profitable  lambs  in  the  end. 

Occasionally  a  young  ewe  will  not  own  her 
lamb  or  an  older  ewe  may  neglect  or  disown 
hers.  Generally,  if  the  lamb  is  put  with  her  in 
a  small  pen  and  helped  to  get  its  rations  for  a 
few  times  she  will  own  it.  If  she  persists  in 
her  neglect  she  may  have  her  head  fastened 
into  a  pair  of  small  stanchions  so  that  she  can 
eat  but  not  get  away  from  the  lamb  nor  attack 
it,  nor  readily  prevent  its  sucking.  These 
stanchions  may  be  made  of  two  pieces  of  1x4 
pine  driven  into  the  earthen  floor,  and  the  tops 
held  together  by  a  short  board  nailed  on.  There 
is  no  cruelty  about  this  practice  and  it  is  gener- 
ally effective  when  persisted  in  for  a  few  days. 

Occasionally  there  will  be  a  ewe  whose  lamb 
will  die  and  leave  her  with  an  udder  filled  with 
milk.  This  gives  opportunity  to  change  to  her 
some  twin  lamb  whose  mother  would  be  better 
for  the  relief.  To  accomplish  this  transference 
the  best  plan  is  to  remove  the  skin  of  the  dead 
lamb  soon  after  its  death  and  slip  it  over  the 


CARE  OP  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG  LAMB.      117 

living  lamb.  It  may  be  pulled  off  as  a  stocking 
is  removed  and  rubbed  with  a  little  salt  to  dry- 
it  and  at  once  slipped  on  to  the  twin  lamb  with 
the  feet  thrust  through  the  holes  where  the 
former  lamb's  legs  were.  Introduced  now  to 
the  mother  of  the  dead  lamb,  confined  with  her 
in  a  small  pen,  it  is  not  often  that  she  will  refuse 
to  own  it  at  once.     Ewes  know  their  lambs  en- 


mi..^ 


Mia. 


A  BUNCH  OP  NEBRASKA  LEICESTERS. 

tirely  by  scent,  and  thus  the  odor  of  the  skin 
tells  her  that  it  is  truly  her  own  lamb  that  is 
with  her.  This  ,skin  may  be  taken  off  after  a 
few  days. 

It  is  not  good  shepherding  to  permit  a  ewe 
to  be  without  a  lamb  sucking  her  when  there  are 
lambs  enough  to  go  around,  and  usually  there 
will  be  so  many  twins  among  ewes  of  the  mut- 


118  SHEEP   FARMING    IN  AMERICA. 

ton  breeds  that  there  are  enough  lambs  for  all 
and  perhaps  25  to  the  hundred  over. 

Occasionally  a  ewe  will  be  found  of  so  per- 
verse a  disposition  or  so  undeveloped  in  udder 
or  malformed  that  she  will  not  raise  a  lamb 
at  all.  The  cure  for  her  is  to  cut  oif  half  of  one 
ear,  which  is  the  ^' brand  of  Cain,"  and  indicates 
that  she  is  to  go  to  the  butcher  as  soon  as  fat. 

There  is  a  man  in  the  West  who  sells  for  one 
dollar  a  receipt  for  making  ewes  own  lambs, 
either  their  own  or  some  others.  Having  paid 
my  dollar  I  can  testify  that  there  is  merit  in  his 
plan,  which  is  to  carefully  wash  the  lamb,  es- 
pecially about  the  rump  and  tail  and  on  top  of 
the  head,  removing  thus  all  trace  of  scent  so  far 
as  possible.  Next  3^011  are  to  catch  the  ewe  and 
milk  upon  the  head  and  rump  of  the  lamb  from 
her  udder,  rubbing  it  well  over  him,  and  lastly 
to  put  a  handful  of  milk  on  her  own  nose  and 
in  her  mouth.  Then  hold  the  lamb  to  her  side 
and  when  it  is  sucking  permit  her  to  smell  of  it. 
Often  this  will  succeed,  but  if  she  has  lambed 
some  days  previously  the  recourse  to  stanchions 
will  be  surer  and  less  troublesome. 

FEEDING  or  THE  EWE  AFTER  LAMBING. 

If  the  ewe  has  been  well  nourished  during  her 
pregnancy  she  comes  in  with  her  lamb  strong 
and  has  a  well  filled  udder.  At  once  when  the 
lamb  is  born  she  must  be  turned  away  from  the 
flock,  and  if  the  shepherd  will  give  her  the  trifle 
of  care  that  she  really  needs  then,  he  will  keep 
her  by  herself  or  in  a  pen  with  other  ewes  in 
her  condition  for  a  few  days.     During  this  time 


CARE  OF   THE  EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      119 

she  should  be  somewhat  sparingly  fed  with 
grain,  or  it  may  even  be  best  to  give  her  none  at 
all,  depending  upon  her  condition.  It  is  unwise 
to  early  force  her  to  a  milk  flow  in  excess  of 
what  the  lamb  can  consume.  In  a  few  days, 
however,  she  will  need  good  food  in  generous 
amounts  for  the  lamb  will  draw  heavily  upon 
her  system  for  nourishment.  She  can  not  keep 
up  her  milk  flow  by  eating  alone  if  she  is  a  large 
milker,  but  will  decline  somewhat  in  condition, 
even  when  well  fed,  showing  that  her  flesh  also 
turns  to  milk. 

Bear  always  in  mind  two  facts.  Sheep  are 
ruminating  animals,  accustomed  by  nature  to 
eating  bulky  foods  of  moderate  nutritive  prop- 
erties, and  not  accustomed  to  eating  grain. 
Next,  sheep  have  delicate  digestions,  easily  dis- 
turbed by  improper  feeding,  excessive  feeding 
or  sudden  changes  in  the  amount  of  feed  given. 
Therefore  make  no  sudden  changes  and  least  oP 
all  make  at  once  a  large  addition  of  grain  to  her 
daily  ration.  In  England  ewes  seldom  taste 
grain  at  all,  but  eat  instead  grass,  hay  and 
roots,  mainly  -swede  turnips.  Here,  where  roots 
are  not  so  easily  grown  and  fed  (excepting  in 
Canada  and  northern  America),  more  reliance 
is  put  upon  grain  and  with  care  in  feeding  it 
may  take  the  place  very  well. 

A  sensible  treatment  of  the  ewe  that  lambs  in 
winter  is  to  keep  her  mostly  on  clover  or  alfalfa 
hay  until  after  her  lamb  comes.  There  will  be 
no  need  to  limit  the  amount  of  hay  that  she  con- 
sumes after  lambing  and  then  when  her  lamb 
takes  all  her  milk  and  wishes  more,  begin  feed- 


120  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

ing  her  a  little  wheat  bran.  For  a  week  bran 
will  suffice,  gradually  increasing  the  amount 
fed,  then  there  may  be  added  to  it  a  little  chop- 
ped corn  or  barley  and  a  little  later  some  oil- 
meal.  A  pound  a  day  of  this  mixture  will  keep 
her  in  good  milk  flow  and  it  must  be  gradually 
led  up  to  for  about  ten  days. 

About  the  right  proportions  of  this  mixture 
are  100  lbs.  of  wheat  bran,  100  lbs.  of  chopped 
corn  and  20  lbs.  of  oilmeal.  This  with  clover  or 
alfalfa  hay  will  push  her  to  a  very  heavy  milk 
flow.  If  she  is  a  large  ewe  she  may  consume 
more  tlian  a  pound  to  advantage,  as  much  as 
two  pounds  being  consumed  by  some  large  Dor- 
set ewes  belonging  to  the  writer. 

If  this  feed  is  so  gradually  introduced  to  the 
ewe  that  her  digestion  is  not  disturbed  nor  her 
milk  flow  stimulated  too  much  at  first,  there  is 
small  danger  of  overfeeding  her,  supposing  that 
the  lamb  is  to  be  pushed  for  early  market.  Her 
unselfish  nature  turns  the  feed  quickly  into  milk 
and  little  of  it  goes  to  nourish  her  own  body. 

It  is  much  easier,  however,  to  keep  her  in 
large  milk  flow  if  we  provide  succulent  food  at 
this  time.  Corn  silage  is  easily  provided  and 
is  as  good  for  the  ewe  as  for  the  cow.  It  should 
be  made  from  well  matured  corn  so  as  to  de- 
velop its  sugar  and  prevent  an  excess  of  acid 
from  forming.  Some  complaint  has  been  made 
of  the  effect  of  corn  silage  upon  sheep,  but  usu- 
ally the  trouble  has  been  that  the  feeders  have 
tried  to  make  it  the  main  part  of  the  ration.  It 
should  always  be  fed  in  connection  with  good 
sound  dry  hay  and  some  grain.     As  corn  silage 


CARE  OF  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG  LAMB.   121 

from  well  matured  corn  has  in  it  a  good  deal  of 
grain  when  it  is  fed,  the  rest  of  the  ration  should 
be  of  wheat  bran,  oilmeal  and  clover  or  alfalfa 
hay. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States, 
along  the  great  lakes,  in  Michigan,  Wisconsin 
and  northern  Minnesota  beside  northern  New 
York  and  New  England  and  in  all  of  Canada 
(besides  Oregon,  Washington  and  British  Co- 
lumbia) roots  form  a  very  important  part  of  the 
ewe's  ration.  Eoots  have,  indeed,  almost  cre- 
ated the  English  breeds  of  mutton  sheep.  They 
are  safer  to  feed  than  silage  and  better.  In 
England  it  is  customary  to  grow  turnips,  mostly 
swedes,  which  are  seldom  pulled  but  are  con- 
sumed on  the  ground  on  which  they  grow,  being 
enclosed  by  hurdles  and  eaten  off  a  block  at  a 
time.  In  very  wet  or  bad  weather  some  are 
pulled  and  carried  to  the  sheep  being  fed  on 
grass  or  in  open  sheds. 

The  use  of  roots  is  productive  of  great  good 
to  the  ewe  flock.  They  are  succulent  and  start 
a  natural  milk  flow,  whereas  grain  naturally 
goes  more  to  producing  flesh  and  fat.  There  is 
no  danger  of  the  ewes  consuming  too  many 
roots.  They  push  her  easily  and  naturally  to 
a  strong  flow  of  milk  that  has  very  healthful 
properties.  Ewes  highly  fed  on  grain  often 
give  milk  that  is  injurious  to  their  lambs.  Of 
this  there  is  no  danger  when  roots  are  substi- 
tuted in  large  part  for  the  grain. 

The  shepherd  who  can  readily  grow  roots  has 
a  distinct  advantage  over  the  one  who  relies 
upon  dry  hay  and  grain  for  wintering  his  ewe 


122  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

flock.  Most  of  tlie  best  developed  sheep,  the 
ones  seen  at  our  fall  shows,  come  from  root- 
growing  regions.  Unfortunately  roots  are  not 
very  easily  grown  in  the  corn-belt  and  below, 
though  mangels  will  thrive  well  to  the  south- 
ward. 

Swede  turnips  form  the  bulk  of  the  roots 
grown  for  sheep.  They  should  be  sown  on  pro- 
ductive soil,  well  prepared.  The  time  of  sow- 
ing varies  with  climates  but  usually  early  in 
July  the  seed  should  go  into  the  ground.  It  is 
well  to  have  the  land  ridged  nicely  and  to  sow 
the  seed  on  the  top  of  the  ridge,  which  makes 
much  easier  hoeing  and  thinning  or  "singling." 
In  dry  climates  of  course  ridging  must  be  at- 
tempted with  caution  not  to  get  them  too  sharp 
and  tall.  Mangels  are  more  productive  than 
swedes  but  are  not  so  rich  and  are  unsafe  to 
feed  to  rams.  Carrots  are  more  trouble  to  grow 
than  either  but  are  the  best  when  grown. 

Many  distressing  troubles  come  from  sud- 
den increase  in  the  grain  ration  of  the  ewe  after 
lambing.  It  is  a  very  inducing  cause  of  garget, 
or  it  may  stop  the  milk  flow  altogether,  or  it 
may  cause  founder,  stiffness  of  joints  and  great 
lameness. 

TROUBLES    OF   YOUNG  LAMBHOOD. 

The  lamb  has  his  trials  and  dangers  too. 
Supposing  that  he  gets  accidentally  shut  away 
from  his  mother  for  some  hours,  until  he  is  very 
empty  and  she  very  full  of  milk,  if  then  he  gets 
sudden  access  to  her  he  will  usually  die  from 
the  overburden   of  milk   taken   in.     When  the 


CARE   OF   THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG   LAMB.       123 

shepherd  discovers  that  ewe  and  lamb  have  been 
separated  for  several  hours  he  should  catch  the 
ewe  and  milk  her  nearly  clean  before  allowing 
them  to  come  together. 

Then  there  are  contagious  sore  eyes.  These 
are  caused  by  a  germ.  There  are  probably  sev- 
eral kinds  of  germs  that  do  the  mischief,  and 
the  result  is  an  inflammation  and  weeping  of  the 
eye  with  consequent  distress  and  lack  of  thrift. 
The  cure  is  fortunately  easy.  Taking  some  one 
of  the  coal  tar  dips,  and  diluting  with  water 
nearly  as  much  as  for  killing  scab,  the  head 
should  be  well  wet  and  care  taken  that  some  of 
the  fluid  actually  reaches  the  eye.  It  may  be 
painful  for  a  moment  but  it  works  a  speedy 
cure.  The  writer  has  repeatedly  cured  this 
trouble  by  dropping  a  tiny  drop  of  the  pure  dip, 
undiluted,  into  the  open  eye  of  the  lamb.  Tears 
start  vigorously  and  dissolve  it  while  the  eye- 
lid winking  vigorously  carries  it  to  every  part. 
The  cheeks  should  be  saturated  also  with  dip, 
properly  diluted. 

SORE  MOUTH  AND  TEATS. 

Quite  often  a  contagious  form  of  sore  mouth 
affects  young  lambs  and  the  sores  are  seen  also 
upon  the  teats  and  udders  of  the  ewes.  These 
sores  form  scabs  along  the  edges  of  the  lips  and 
pustules  upon  the  teats.  Often  they  become  so 
troublesome  as  to  cause  the  death  of  the  lamb, 
more  usually  simply  interfering  with  its  thrift 
so  much  as  to  sometimes  make  it  profitless.  The 
writer  has  found  this  disease,  which  sheep  writ- 
ers usually  spend  so  much  time  in  describing 


124  SHEEP   FARMING   IIN    AMERICA. 

and  discussing,  of  the  easiest  possible  control. 
Assuming  that  it  is  of  germ  origin,  to  rub  off 
the  scabs  and  wash  the  lips  with  strong  solu- 
tions of  coal  tar  dips  and  to  treat  the  udders  in 
the  same  manner  has  with  the  author  in  every 
case  served  to  effect  a  radical  cure.  Quite  often 
this  disease  breaks  out  upon  the  mouths  of 
Western  range  lambs  upon  their  arrival  at  an 
Eastern  farm  for  feeding.  The  treatment  is  to 
rub  off  the  scabs  and  apply  the  undiluted  dip 
to  the  fresh  surface.  In  recommending  these 
coal  tar  products  the  writer  wishes  to  be  under- 
stood as  meaning  such  preparations  as  are 
usually  sold  as  "Zenoleum,"  ''Naptholeum/' 
"Milk  Oil/'  etc.  They  are  much  alike,  really 
impure  coal  tar  creosote,  and  most  effectual 
destroyers  of  germ  life  and  when  used  with  dis- 
cretion are  among  the  best  friends  of  the  shep- 
herd. 

FEEDING  THE  LAMBS. 

Lambs  eady  develop  a  hunger  for  solid  food 
and  begin  nibbling  at  hay  and  sampling  ground 
feed  or  whatever  is  at  hand.  At  the  age  of  ten 
days  they  will  begin  seriously  to  eat  ground 
feed.  Advantage  of  this  should  be  taken  and 
the  lamb  encouraged  to  eat  as  early  and  as  much 
as  possible.  During  the  early  life  of  an  animal 
nutrition  is  more  perfect  than  later  and  the  cost 
of  producing  growth  is  much  less.  Digestion 
IS  more  perfect,  the  young  animal  can  consume 
more  in  proportion  to  its  weight  and  it  is  more 
perfectly  assimilated.  A  pound  of  flesh  on  the 
babv  lamb  can  therefore  be  made  at  a  much  less 


CARE   OF   THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG   LAMB.      125 

cost  than  after  he  is  older.  Seeing  that  the 
young  mntton  commands  by  far  the  higher  ]3rice 
it  is  plain  that  the  earlier  weight  is  put  on  the 
better  so  far  as  profit  is  concerned. 

The  practice  in  England  is  to  have  in  the 
hurdles  in  which  the  flock  is  usually  confined, 


t                                                                                                                             I 

I'm.  -.,n^":  ■ 

■  y  mMM, 

"MARY  HAD  FIVE  LITTLE  LAMBS." 

"creeps"  or  openings  wide  enough  to  let  the 
lambs  slip  through  while  restraining  the  ewes. 
TheFe  creeps  usually  have  small  rollers  at  the 
sides  so  that  the  lambs  as  they  grow  and  nearly 
fill  the  opening  may  squeeze  through  without 
injury  to  themselves  or  loosening  of  their  wool. 


126  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA 

Tims  the  lambs  *^'rmi  forward"  to  an  enclosure 
of  their  own  where  they  find  fresh  grazing  of 
turnips  or  vetch  or  clover  or  grass,  according 
to  the  situation  and  season,  and  in  these  small 
enclosures  are  kept  troughs  replenished  regu- 
larly twice  a  day  with  some  grain  mixture. 
English  feeders  use  great  amounts  of  ^'cake," 
which  is  either  of  linseed  or  cottonseed.  This 
cake  is  made  at  American  oil  mills  where  by 
pressure  oil  is  extracted  from  the  crushed  seed. 
American  feeders  usually  buy  '^oilmeal,"  or 
ground  cake  whereas  our  British  cousins  prefer 
to  buy  the  actual  cakes  and  break  them  on  the 
farm  into  bits  as  large  perhaps  as  hickory  nuts, 
or  somewhat  smaller  for  young  lambs.  English 
lambs  come  from  the  hurdles  at  the  age  of  three 
or  four  months  weighing  20  to  100  lbs.  They 
will  do  as  well  in  America,  under  right  manage- 
ment, as  the  writer  has  frequently  demonstrated 
in  his  own  practice.  The  fact  is  that  one  must 
keep  the  ewes  in  any  case  and  must  feed  them, 
so  that  there  is  a  certain  fixed  expense  con- 
nected with  rearing  the  lambs.  This  expense 
produces  a  certain  amount  of  growth;  now  by 
the  addition  of  supplementary  foods  this  growth 
may  be  greatly  increased  at  very  slight  expense. 
The  amount  of  extra  food  consumed  by  the 
young  lamb  to  make  an  extra  pound  of  growth 
will  not  cost  more  than  one  or  two  cents.  To 
make  a  pound  of  growth  on  him  after  he  has  left 
his  mother  will  cost  from  3%  to  5  cents.  Then 
too,  the  early  growth  is  what  brings  the  highest 
price.  And  again  the  lamb  that  matures  very 
early  and  gets  away  to  market  escapes  a  hun- 


CARE  OF  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG  LAMB.   127, 

dred  ills  that  lie  in  wait  for  the  lamb  that  re- 
mains on  the  farm  for  nearly  a  year,  so,  alto- 
gether, the  arguments  are  all  for  pushing  the 
farm-born  lambs  as  rapidly  as  possible  by  extra 
allowances  of  feed. 

Of  course  lambs  that  are  pure-bred  and  in- 
tended to  stay  on  the  farm  to  maturity  must  be 
fed  a  different  ration  from  those  that  are 
merely  to  get  fat  quick  and  end  a  short  but 
happy  and  victorious  life  at  the  market.  Stock 
lambs  need  abundant  food  but  no  forcing.  Their 
ration  aside  from  their  mothers'  milk  should 
be  of  oats  and  bran,  with  a  trifle  of  oilmeal, 
clover  and  alfalfa  hay,  and  in  their  ground  feed 
there  may  be  added  a  little  fine  ground  bone- 
meal,--  the  steamed  bone  or  some  odorless  pro- 
duct to  be  chosen  of  course.  There  is  small 
danger  of  overfeeding  these  stock  lambs  in  their 
infancy ;  they  will  the  earlier  go  afield  and  learn 
there  to  seek  their  subsistence  in  the  form  of 
grass  and  herbage.  Corn  should  not  be  fed  to 
them,  neither  to  the  ewe  lambs  nor  the  ram 
lambs,  for  corn  mainly  makes  fat  and  fat  im- 
pedes vital  functions  rather  than  helps.  The 
ram  lambs  developed  on  corn  are  slow,  sluggish, 
early  losing  their  usefulness;  the  ewes  devel- 
oped on  corn  are  uncertain  breeders  and  often 
poor  milkers.  To  develop  bone  and  muscle  and 
stamina  in  these  stock  lambs  should  be  the  aim 
and  this  is  accomplished  by  feeding  food  rich  in 
bone  and  muscle-making  materials,  of  which 
wheat  bran  is  easily  among  the  first  and  oats 
comes  next.  They  should  have  abundant  chance 
of  exercise  too,  which  may  be  denied  somewhat 


128  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

to  the  lambs  that  are  to  go  fat  to  an  early  mar- 
ket. Then  there  should  be  constant  watchful- 
ness to  avoid  infection  from  parasites  and  if 
this  is  done  the  shepherd  will  have  abundant 
reason  to  congratulate  himself  upon  the  splen- 
did growth  of  his  stock  lambs. 

FEEDING  FOR  THE  MARKET. 

Supposing  now  the  lamb  crop  is  mostly  to  go 
fat  to  market  as  soon  as  ripe.  We  will  assume 
that  they  have  been  born  in  winter,  which  is  the 
proper  season  for  all  lambs  to  be  born  on 
farms,  unless  one  can  get  them  in  the  fall,  and 
that  they  have  comfortable  quarters  and  their 
mothers  have  been  so  well  fed  that  they  have  an 
abundance  of  milk  for  them.  Next  there  must 
be  provided  a  small  room  or  pen  in  which  the 
lambs  can  go  and  the  ewes  can  not.  This  place 
must  be  of  very  convenient  access,  so  that  it  is 
really  easier  for  the  lamb  to  go  in  than  to  re- 
main outside.  This  is  because  lambs  have  fleet- 
ing memories  and  are  largely  the  creatures  of 
opportunity.  They  will  consume  much  more 
feed  when  it  is  right  at  their  mouths  than  if 
they  have  to  go  even  a  few  rods  to  seek  it.  This 
place,  which  we  call  a  ''creep,"  must  be  in  a 
light  part  of  the  barn  and  if  the  sun  can  shine 
in  all  the  better,  for  lambs  are  attracted  by  sun- 
light and  greatly  benefited  by  it.  In  truth  some 
of  the  most  successful  lamb  growers  have  glass- 
roofed  sheds  for  their  use  in  winter  and  achieve 
thereby  remarkable  results. 

This  creep  need  not  be  very  large.  If  it  is 
12  feet  square  it  will  accommodate  50  lambs 


CARE   OF   THE   EWE   AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      131 

very  nicely,  as  they  will  not  all  be  in  it  at  one 
time.  It  stionld  be  separated  from  the  ewes' 
part  of  the  barn  by  a  fence  of  vertical  slats, 
spaced  about  7  inches  apart,  the  slats  with 
ronnded  edges.  This  will  permit  the  lambs  to 
pass  in  and  restrain  the  ewes.  After  a  time 
the  lambs  will  need  some  wider  openings  and 
then  if  small  rollers  are  put  up  to  permit  them 
to  squeeze  between  all  the  better. 

In  the  creep  there  must  be  some  flat-bottomed 
troughs  in  which  to  feed  grain  and  a  hay  rack 
for  alfalfa  hay,  or  clover  if  it  is  the  best  at  hand. 
The  troughs  must  be  low  to  permit  young  lambs 
readily  to  reach  them.  As  lambs  delight  to  get 
into  troughs  with  their  feet  they  must  be 
covered.  To  accomplish  this  let  the  end  of  the 
trough  be  a  solid  board  12  inches  wide  and  ex- 
tending up  12  inches  above  the  sides  of  the 
trough,  pointed  at  the  end  like  the  gable  of  a 
house  roof  and  put  on  this  two  boards  like  an 
inverted  V.  This  makes  a  steep  roof  to  the 
trough  and  effectually  prevents  the  lambs  get- 
ting their  feet  into  it. 

This  cover  is  readily  lifted  off  when  grain  is 
put  in.  Attention  to  such  small  details  as  keep- 
ing troughs  clean  is  essential  to  success  in  feed- 
ing lambs.  Their  sense  of  smell  is  acute  and 
they  discriminate  sharply  against  anything  but 
clean,  fresh  food. 

The  first  feed  to  put  into  the  trough  may  be 
wheat  bran.  Scatter  a  trifle  in  the  bottom  and 
sprinkle  it  with  brown  sugar.  If  the  lambs  do 
not  find  it  readily,  take  one  up  gently,  not  to 
frighten  him,  and  carrying  him  to  the  trough 


132  SHEEP  FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

put  a  little  of  the  sweetened  bran  in  his  mouth. 
He  will  get  the  taste  and  in  many  cases  you  can 
carefully  put  him  on  his  feet  with  his  head  in 
the  trough  leaving-  him  there.  Once  he  gets  a 
taste  he  will  return  and  bring  others  with  him. 

It  is  essential  that  the  bran  used  be  fresh. 
Cracked  corn  will  be  added  to  the  bran ;  it  also 
must  be  fresh  and  made  of  good,  sound  corn. 
It  need  not  be  cracked  very  fine.  Better  mix 
in  a  box  or  bin  about  50  lbs.  of  cracked  corn, 
50  lbs.  of  wheat  bran  and  10  lbs.  of  oilmeal, 
coarse  ground.  If  oats  are  available  they  may 
be  added  to  this  ration,  ground  at  first,  without 
changing  the  proportions  of  other  things  for 
oats  themselves  form  nearly  a  balanced  ration. 

Feed  this  twice  or  three  times  a  day,  placing 
in  the  troughs  about  what  will  be  consumed  and 
when  next  feeding  time  comes  sweep  out  and 
give  to  the   ewes  what  may  be   left  so  as  to 
always  have  fresh  feed  before  the  lambs.  Never 
wait  for  them  to  lick  out  the  last  particle  before 
I  offering  them  fresh  feed. 
X  /      You  will  soon  be  astonished  at  the  amount 
y    the  little  fellows  will  consume  and  at  the  trans- 
formation   in    their    appearance.     The  plump 
roundness  of  the  baby  forms  is  very  beautiful 
and  to  watch  them  grow  is  a  satisfaction  and 
joy  every  day. 

Of  course  there  are  other  things  that  may  be 
fed.  Wheat  middlings  may  make  a  small  part 
of  the  ration;  it  is  too  floury  for  best  results, 
as  the  lambs  do  not  like  it  so  well.  Eye  will 
serve  a  useful  purpose,  though  it  seems  less 
palatable  than  oats  or  barley.     Soy  beans  may 


CARE  OF  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG  LAMB.      133 

replace  the  oilmeal  and  are  better.  Soys  are 
readily  grown  upon  any  farm  and  should  be 
regularly  sown  where  lambs  are  grown. 

Early  varieties  of  soy  beans  should  be  grown 
in  the  Northern  states,  threshed  when  ripe  and 
the  seeds  kept  for  the  lambs.  The  bean  straw 
if  kept  dry  has  in  it  a  good  deal  of  nourishment 
also  which  the  ewes  will  seek  out  and  the 
coarser  parts  will  serve  as  an  excellent  bedding. 

There  is  hardly  any  other  food  that  will  push 
forward  lambs  like  soys.  They  have  abundant 
protein  and  a  good  deal  of  bone  material  also. 
As  compared  with  ordinary  field  peas  they  have 
29  to  40  per  cent  of  protein,  while  field  peas 
have  16  per  cent  and  cowpeas  18  per  cent.  Field 
peas  are  best  adapted  to  New  England,  Canada 
and  Michigan,  with  some  regions  of  high  alti- 
tude in  the  Rocky  Mountains;  soy  beans  to  all 
the  corn-belt.  As  the  oilmeals  are  steadily  in- 
creasing in  price  with  possibilities  of  their  fre- 
quent adulteration  the  shepherd  can  not  afford 
to  overlook  sources  of  home-grown  protein. 

In  the  Southern  states  the  hairy  vetch  is  a 
source  of  home-grown  protein  not  to  be  over- 
looked. Further  reference  to  this  will  be  made 
when  we  take  up  the  subject  of  field  crops  for 
sheep. 

The  lamb  will  drink  a  good  deal  of  pure 
water,  even  while  sucking  his  mother.  It  should 
be  readily  available  and  always  clean  enough 
for  human  consumption. 

After  the  lambs  are  well  started  on  feed  the 
ewe  lambs  if  they  are  designed  to  be  kept  upon 
the  farm,  and  such  ram  lambs  as  may  be  worth 


134 


SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 


keeping,  should  be  separated  from  the  others 
and  fed  differently.  They  may  have  all  the  oats 
and  bran  they  wish  and  some  soy  beans  but  are 
the  better  for  having  very  little  corn.  It  is  best 
if  they  have  the  run  with  their  mothers  of  a  field 
and  learn  early  to  seek  part  of  their  food  out- 
side, whereas  the  ones  destined  for  market  will 


AN  ENGLISH   "CREEP." 

grow  as  well  and  fatten  quicker  to  have  their 
range  somewhat  restricted. 

The  shepherd  should  keep  close  watch  on  the 
ewes,  for  there  will  come  a  time  when  they  are 
no  longer  milking  freely  and  then  they  will  put 
their  food  on  their  backs.  Rather  than  fatten 
them  to  their  harm,  unless  they  are  to  go  to 


CARE   OF   THE  EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      135 

market,  the  grain  should  be  gradually  cut  down 
and  it  will  be  found  that  the  lambs  at  this  time 
will  take  more  each  day. 

iVfter  the  fattening  lambs  are  a  few  weeks 
old  they  love  to  shell  off  corn  from  the  ear  and 
crack  it  with  their  own  teeth.  They  should 
have  opportunity  to  do  this. 

In  fact,  when  they  are  six  weeks  old  it  is 
hardly  worth  while  to  shell  or  grind  any  more 
corn  for  them  at  all.  They  prefer  it  fresh  shel- 
led by  their  own  teeth.  It  is  folly  to  spend 
effort  in  doing  things  that  the  lambs  delight  in 
doing  for  themselves. 

DRESSING  LAMBS  FOR  FANCY  WINTER  MARKET. 

When  the  lambs  reach  a  weight  of  50  to  60 
lbs.  or  even  less  if  they  are  very  fat  the  fancy 
New  York  market  will  pay  for  them  from  $3 
to  $12  each  if  sent  there  by  express  nicely  dres- 
sed and  cooled.  The  prices  depend  upon  how 
fat  they  are  and  what  the  season  is.  Big  lambs, 
only  moderately  fat,  sell  much  cheaper  than 
small  lambs  that  are  very  fat. 

For  this  trade  the  lambs  are  dressed  in  a 
special  manner  as  the  market  requires.  Mr.  H. 
P.  Miller,  a  successful  ''hot  house"^  lamb 
grower,  gives  this  as  his  method:  "It  is  very 
important  to  have  them  thoroughly  bled  out. 
To  secure  this  I  have  found  it  advantageous 
to  hang  the  lamb  by  the  hind  feet  in  killing. 
Suspend  a  small  singletree  about  six  feet  from 
the  ground.  Loop  a  small  rope  or  strong  twine 
about  each  hind  le^  and  attach  to  the  hooks  of 
the   singletree.      With   a    sharp   pointed   knife 


136  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

sever  the  artery  and  vein  in  the  neck  close  to 
the  head.  Be  sure  to  sever  the  artery.  Bright 
red  blood  is  the  assurance.  The  veinous  blood 
is  dark.  Severing  the  head  with  one  blow  of  a 
sharp  broad  axe  would  cause  no  suffering  and 
insure  thorough  bleeding.  I  remove  the  head 
with  a  knife  as  soon  as  the  lamb  ceases  strug- 
gling. Clip  the  wool  from  the  brisket  and  along 
a  strip  four  or  five  inches  wide  upwards  to  the 
udder  or  scrotum,  also  from  between  the  hind 
legs  as  in  tagging  sheep.  Now  open  the  lamb 
from  the  tail  to  the  brisket.  Slit  the  skin  up  the 


READY  FOR  MARKET. 


inside  of  the  hind  quarter  about  four  inches  and 
loosen  it  from  the  underlying  muscles  for  two 
inches  on  either  side  of  the  openings  for  the 
attachment  of  caul  fat.  This  should  be  re- 
moved from  the  stomachs  before  they  are  de- 
tached, and  in  very  cold  weather  placed  in 
warm  water  until  ready  to  be  used.  Next  re- 
move the  stomach  and  intestines.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  season  the  liver,  heart  and  lungs 
may  be  left  in  place  but  when  the  weather  gets 
warm  they  must  be  removed.  Carefully  spread 
the  caul  fat  over  all  the  exposed  flesh.     Good 


CARE  OF  THE  EWE  AND  YOUNG  LAMB.   137 

large  toothpicks  will  hold  it  in  place.  Make 
small  slits  in  it  over  the  kidneys  and  pull  them 
through.  This  part  of  the  work  requires  care 
and  skill  to  make  the  carcass  look  attractive. 

''Be  sure  that  all  is  clean  and  pretty.  Hang- 
in  a  cool  place  for  12  to  24  hours.  The  car- 
casses should  not  actually  freeze  but  come  close 
to  it.  Sew  a  yard  of  clean  muslin  about  each 
lamb  so  as  to  cover  all  exposed  surface.  Then 
line  a  small  crate  with  strong  paper  and  place 
three  lambs  in  it,  tacking  burlap  over  the  top. 
Crate  them  just  before  shipping.  Ice  may  be 
put.  between  the  lambs  but  not  in  them.  Pre- 
pare for  market  as  fast  as  ready,  three  or  six 
at  a  time.  Aim  to  slaughter  regularly  each 
week,  if  you  have  lambs  in  condition,  and  keep 
your  commission  firm  informed  as  to  how  many 
you  will  send. ' ' 

It  is  worth  noting  that  for  a  period  of  years 
prices  for  these  fancy  fat  winter  lambs  have 
steadily  advanced  and  the  supply  though  in- 
creasing has  not  been  equal  to  the  demand. 
There  is,  however,  a  wide  variation  in  prices 
obtained  and  if  one  finds  his  lambs  selling  at  a 
low  price  he  had  better  investigate  to  see  what 
is  wrong.  It  is  better  to  keep  the  lambs  to  sell 
alive  in  spring  than  dress  them  and  pay  express 
charges  and  commission  for  $3  to  $4  each  in 
winter.  During  January  and  February,  how- 
ever, good  lambs,  such  as  any  careful  man  can 
as  easily  make  as  any  other  sort,  sell  for  from 
$8  to  $12  each  in  New  York  with  small  prospect 
of  oversupply  for  some  time. 


138  SHEEP   FARMINGS   IN  AMERICA. 

TREATMENT   OF    THE   LATE   BORN   LAMBS. 

Naturally  the  larger  part  of  the  lambs  will 
be  born  too  late  for  the  fancy  trade.  Nor  would 
there  be  demand  for  all  of  them  in  the  form  of 
"fancy  hot  house  lambs."  There  is,  however, 
abundant  profit  in  fattening  them  to  be  sold 
afoot  in  April,  May,  June  or  July.  Usually  the 
highest  prices  are  obtained  in  June.  At  that 
time  the  supply  of  fat  lambs  born  on  the  ranges 
the  previous  summer  and  winter-fed  is  about 
exhausted  and  the  supply  of  fat  native  winter 
or  spring  born  lambs  has  never  yet  been  ade- 
quate. 

To  develop  lambs  for  this  live  trade  they 
should  be  fed  just  as  advised  for  the  winter 
lambs  except  that  they  should  be  permitted 
to  take  more  exercise  than  if  they  are  to  be  fin- 
ished at  the  earliest  possible  moment. 

When  grass  comes  the  lambs  should  be  kept 
off  of  it  until  it  is  actually  sweet.  The  sun  must 
have  time  to  get  into  it  before  it  will  be  strong 
and  good  and  to  eat  it  before  that  time  is  a  dam- 
age alike  to  the  grass  and  the  lambs  Further- 
more after  they  have  a  taste  of  green  grass 
they  will  not  eat  dry  forage  well,  so  there  is 
loss  all  around  Keep  them  on  dry  feed  there- 
fore until  there  is  abundant  green  grass  and  it 
is  sweet,  then  you  may  let  them  go  to  it  without 
fear  of  them  shrinking. 

There  is  little  danger  of  scouring  from  eat- 
ing grass  after  it  has  become  sweet.  The  corn, 
of  which  they  are  now  eating  a  great  deal,  has 
a  tendency  to  prevent  it  and  after  a  day  or  two 


CARE   OF   THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG   LAMB.      141 

they  will  go  on  as  though  nothing  had  been 
changed,  happy  indeed  beyond  words  in  the 
fresh  spring  sunshine  and  tine  pasture,  before 
flies  have  come  or  summer  heat  to  oppress. 

Here  is  a  great  argument  for  having  lambs 
born  in  winter,  they  may  thus  get  such  a  vigor- 
ous start  that  when  green  grass  comes  they  are 
able  to  make  the  most  of  it.  There  are  two 
months  in  our  trying  climate  of  the  corn-belt 
that  make  ideal  natural  conditions  for  making 
mutton  cheaply;  they  are  May  and  June,  with 
sometimes  a  bit  of  April.  Wherefore  the  shep- 
herd should  plan  to  have  his  lambs  big  and 
strong  when  this  time  comes  so  that  they  may 
make  the  most  of  their  opportunities.  There 
is  no  profit  as  a  general  thing  in  carrying  any 
over  through  July,  August  and  September, 
save  those  that  are  destined  to  remain  perma- 
nently to  replenish  the  breeding  flock. 

FEEDTNG  CORN  ON  GRASS. 

While  in  winter  time  on  dry  feed  it  is  essen- 
tial to  feed  bran,  oilmeal  or  soy  beans  to  sup- 
ply the  requisite  protein  to  the  growing  lambs 
there  is  not  so  much  need  of  supplying  protein 
when  on  grass,  that  is,  if  the  lambs  are  destined 
for  the  butcher.  Green  grass  is  more  nitrog- 
enous than  dry  hay  and  there  are  many 
clovers  usually  mixed  in  the  grass  so  that  a 
ration  of  corn  (maize)  alone  will  serve  a  good 
purpose.  This  may  as  well  be  fed  in  the  ear, 
laying  it  in  troughs  or  if  there  is  a  clean  sward 
of  thick  grass  the  ears  may  simply  be  scattered 
about  upon  it,  in  a  fresh  spot  each  day.     To  do 


142  SHEEP   FARMING    IN   AMERICA. 

this  before  the  lambs  are  weaned  it  is  of  course 
necessary  to  fence  oft*  a  part  of  the  pasture 
away  from  the  ewes,  allowing  only  the  lambs 
to  have  access  to  it.  No  more  corn  should  ever 
be  fed  at  a  time  than  the  lambs  will  consume 
and  that  they  may  eat  it  regularly  care  should 
be  taken  to  see  that  every  lamb  is  there  at  feed- 
ing time.  If  a  few  troughs  are  set  close  by  in 
which  a  few  handful  s  of  oats  are  strewn  that 
the  ewes  can  get,  the  shepherd  can  readily  call 
the  whole  flock  up  at  feeding  time  and  the  lambs 
will  rush  through  their  creeps  to  get  their  corn 
while  their  mothers  are  munching  the  sparing 
allowance  doled  out  to  them. 

Gains  on  grass  when  lambs  have  had  a  good 
start  in  winter  are  surprisingly  rapid.  By  the 
first  of  June  the  February  lambs  will  often 
weight  80  lbs.  and  drafts  may  be  made  and  sent 
away  if  it  is  convenient  to  market  in  that  man- 
ner, or  all  may  be  kept  till  they  average  about 
80  lbs.,  which  will  be  early  in  June.  If  care- 
fully managed  there  will  be  no  culls  and  all  will 
be  gone  and  the  cash  in  the  owner's  pocket  be- 
fore the  dread  of  parasites  comes. 

Salt  is  an  essential  to  the  sheep  and  it  is  well 
to  accustom  them  to  the  use  of  it  and  keep  it 
at  all  times  before  them.  It  is  especially  use- 
ful in  spring  when  grass  comes  and  no  doubt 
checks  many  bowel  troubles  when  they  have 
access  to  it. 

SUMMER   SHADE. 

Shade  is  essential  in  our  climate  of  the  corn- 
belt.     Even  in  April    sheep    will  begin  to  seek 


CARE   OF   THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      143 

the  shade  during  the  warmer  parts  of  the  day 
and  by  May  and  June  it  is  very  necessary. 
Where  the  pasture  is  near  the  barn  the  cool, 
dark  lower  story,  where  were  the  winter  quar- 
ters, is  the  ideal  place  for  the  flock.     It  should 


A  CARLOAD  OF  YEARLING  WETHERS. 

be  kept  well  bedded  down  and  thus  there  is 
saved  a  good  deal  of  fertility  that  would  other- 
wise perhaps  be  heaped  up  in  fence  corners 
or  beneath  trees  where  it  would  do  the  pasture 
little  good.     The  sheep  prefer  the  darkness  of 


144  SHEEP  FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

the  barn  to  the  semi-shadow  of  trees  and  it  is 
very  much  better  and  safer  for  them  for  rea- 
sons that  we  will  presently  take  up  under  the 
subject  of  parasite  infestation. 

In  this  barn  basement  one  should  each  day 
put  down  a  little  fresh  hay  and  usually  the  flock 
will  eat  quite  a  bit  of  it.  In  connection  with 
their  green  forage  it  is  to  them  what  dry  bread 
and  butter  are  to  the  boy  eating  green  apples  in 
summer  time.  It  is  even  a  good  practice  to  salt 
the  sheep  in  summer  by  sprinkling  brine  over 
dry  hay  in  the  barn,  thus  encouraging  them  to 
eat  as  much  of  it  as  they  will.  Of  course  there 
are  locations  where  hay  is  hard  to  get  and 
pasture  is  in  excess  There  this  would  not  be 
good  practice,  but  all  through  the  region  of  the 
corn-belt  hay  is  abundant  and  really  more  eco- 
nomical to  produce  on  high-priced  land  than 
pasture. 

Corn  may  be  fed  to  the  lambs  also  in  the 
barn  basement  if  the  flock  has  access  to  it. 
There  is  but  one  thing  to  fear;  that  the  place 
may  be  allowed  to  become  foul  so  that  fleeces 
will  be  soiled  and  feet  endangered  but  it  is  at- 
tention to  these  little  things  that  assure  success. 

Shade  in  fields  may  be  had  best  by  movable 
sheds.  These  may  be  made  on  runners,  simple 
roofs  about  16  feet  square  and  not  high,  open 
at  the  sides,  made  of  pine  boards.  They  need 
not  be  rain-proof  since  sun  is  what  we  are  seek- 
ing to  shelter  against.  A  shed  of  this  size  will 
shelter  40  sheep  and  as  it  may  be  frequently 
moved  there  will  be  an  enrichment  of  a  good 
many  scoots  during  the  summer.     The  writer 


CARE   OF   THE  EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      145 

has  on  the  farm  on  which  he  lives  a  spot  where 
his  father  forty  years  before  had  a  temporary 
sheep  shelter  that  still  produces  crops  remark- 
able for  their  distinguishing  greenness  and 
rankness. 

There  are  reasons  why  we  should  not  permit 
the  sheep  to  stand  where  they  will,  along  fences 
and  beneath  trees.  First  the  manure  is  wasted 
there;  then  the  shade  is  seldom  really  satis- 
factory. Sufficient  in  the  early  morning  the 
sun  has  by  noon  moved  so  that  it  is  no  longer 
comfortable  and  the  silly  flock  will  suffer  much 
before  moving  away.  Worst  of  all  is  the  dan- 
ger to  the  health  of  the  sheep  through  parasitic 
infection.  Lying  much  in  one  place  there  is 
an  accumulation  of  droppings  presumably  bear- 
ing germs  of  various  harmful  parasites  such  as 
stomach  worms,  throat  worms,  nodular  disease 
and  the  like.  The  droppings  stimulate  the 
growth  of  sweet,  rich  grasses  here.  The 
germs  harbor  on  the  roots  and  about  the  base 
of  these  grasses.  Lambs  lying  in  shade  near  by 
become  hungry  and  venturing  into  the  sun  a  lit- 
tle way  nibble  at  these  rich  grasses.  It  is  worth 
noting  that  sheep  will  the  more  greedily  eat 
grass  that  grows  strong,  from  manured  land, 
than  that  which  is  thin  and  tough  growing  on 
poor  soil.  The  lambs  then  nibbling  this  thick 
grass,  which  is  thus  kept  short,  take  in  many 
germs  of  stomach  worms  and  other  parasites 
which  their  mothers  have  deposited  there  with 
their  manure.  Thus  disease  creeps  in  to  the  flock. 
In  England  the  writer  has  seen  shepherds  put- 
ting fences  of  hurdles  about  trees  to  prevent 


146  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

ewes  lying  beneath  tliem  when  on  grass  and  ex- 
plaining that  they  found  when  the  ewes  laid  in 
the  shade  of  those  trees  they  "took  cold  from  the 
draughts  and  coughed."  The  facts  were  cor- 
rectly observed  but  the  reasoning  was  defective ; 
it  was  not  the  ^'draught"  that  made  the  sheep 
cough  but  the  throat  worms  and  lung  worms  in- 
stead that  gained  entrance  from  the  infected 
area  of  the  tree  shade. 

MARKETING  THE  SPRING  LAMB. 

Through  Virginia  and  Kentucky  there  are 
many  sheep  breeders  who  make  a  practice  of 
growing  their  lambs  on  grass  alone,  having 
them  born  usually  in  March  and  putting  them 
off  fat  in  June.  They  usually  contract  them 
ahead  for  about  $6  per  cwt.  They  find  this 
business  very  profitable  and  thus  their  rough 
lands  devoted  to  sheep  pastures  steadily  im- 
prove rather  than  deteriorate. 

It  is  a  temptation  to  the  young  shepherd  to 
keep  the  lambs  over  till  fall  or  perhaps  to  feed 
them  again  the  following  winter.  This  seldom 
13ays  so  well  as  to  have  them  fat  early  and  get 
rid  of  them  at  a  good  price.  When  they  come 
to  market  as  late  as  August  and  from  then  to 
Christmas  they  must  compete  with  lambs 
grown  on  the  ranges  under  much  more  favor- 
able conditions  for  cheap  production.  More- 
over, the  lambs  during  the  hot  summers  of  the 
corn-belt  do  not  gain  much  fat;  if  in  fact  they 
hold  what  they  made  in  May  and  June  they  do 
well  and  there  is  besides  that  terrible  danger,— 
the  parasite. 


CARE   OF  THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.       147 
DOCKING. 

Unless  one  is  certain  that  his  lambs  will  go 
early  to  market,  say  at  an  age  not  exceeding 
three  months,  he  had  better  dock  and  castrate 
them.  Tails  are  unnecessary  appendages  to 
a  modern  sheep  and  are  apt  to  become  fouled. 
A  docked  lamb  has  a  squarer  look  and  seems 
fatter  than  one  with  a  tail.  What  blood  goes 
to  nourish  a  useless  tail  would  add  to  the 
growth  of  the  rest  of  the  body  no  doubt.  Dock- 
ing may  be  done  at  a  very  early  age,  within 
ten  days  after  birth  if  the  lamb  is  strong,  and 
there  is  then  slight  shock.  Tails  may  be  sev- 
ered with  one  stroke  of  a  sharp  knife,  (cutting 
from  the  under  side)  or  by  use  of  a  mallet  and 
chisel,  but  a  better  and  safer  way  when  pure- 
bred and  well  fed  lambs  are  docked  is  by  use  of 
hot  docking  pinchers.  These  are  readily  made  by 
the  country  blacksmith.  They  are  shaped  like 
large  shoeing  pinchers  only  much  heavier  and 
with  a  wider  opening  to  admit  any  tail,  for  some- 
times one  will  wish  to  dock  a  mature  sheep  or 
cut  off  a  scrotum  from  an  old  ram.  They 
should  be  thin  at  the  edge  but  not  very  sharp 
and  thick  back  of  it  to  hold  the  heat.  The  man- 
ner of  operation  is  to  have  a  board  with  a  hole 
bored  through  it  of  a  proper  size  to  admit  the 
tail  of  the  lamb.  This  board  protects  the  adja- 
cent parts  against  the  heat  of  the  pinchers. 
They  are  heated  to  redness  and  quickly  sever 
the  tail  which  will  not  bleed  a  drop.  Some  dis- 
infectant is  then  applied  and  the  lamb  let  go. 
After  flies  come  one  must  watch  that  the  stumps 


148  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

do  not  become  infested  with  maggots;  there  is 
no  other  danger.  Pure-bred  and  well  fed 
lambs  will  sometimes  bleed  to  death  when  their 
tails  are  cut  with  knife  or  chisel.  When  no 
docking  pinchers  are  at  hand  the  stumps  may 
be  corded  for  a  few  hours. 

CASTRATION   OF    OLD   EAMS. 

These  docking  pinchers  are  convenient  things 
to  have  for  castration  of  old  rams,  or  of  any 
sheep  past  the  age  of  lambhood.  The  method 
is  to  lay  the  ram  on  his  back;  one  man  seizes 
the  scrotum  and  testicles  and  pulls  them  out 
from  the  body  and  another  simply  severs  them 
all  together  with  the  docking  pinchers  used 
very  hot. 

There  is  no  bleeding,  though  the  operation 
should  not  be  too  hastily  performed,  as  there 
is  need  of  a  m.oment's  contact  with  the  hot  iron 
to  sear  the  arteries.  The  application  of  dis- 
infectants completes  the  operation.  A  thin 
board  may  keep  the  heat  from  scorching  the 
body.  The  writer  has  thus  operated  on  a  six- 
year-old  ram  and  had  him  get  up  and  go  to  eat- 
ing hay  quite  unconcerned.  It  is  probable  that 
the  hot  iron  destroys  the  sensibility  to  pain  to 
quite  an  extent. 

CASTRATION  OF  LAMBS. 

Castration  of  young  lambs  is  a  very  simple 
process.  The  lambs  should  be  two  weeks  old 
and  strong.  The  end  of  the  scrotum  is  cut  off, 
the  testicles  made  to  emerge  and  are  then  pulled 
out    with    the    adhering    cords.      Some    shep- 


CARE   OP   THE   EWE  AND   YOUNG  LAMB.      149 

herds  practice  seizing  them  with  their  teeth; 
this  is  a  common  practice  on  many  Western 
ranches.  It  is  not  usually  necessary  to  apply 
anything  in  case  of  these  young  lambs  but  a 
mixture  of  lard  and  turpentine,  or  tallow  and 
turpentine :  combined  in  proportion  so  as  to  be 
soft  will  deter  germs  and  make  healing  more 
rapid.  There  should  not  be  a  loss  from  dock- 
ing and  castration  of  more  than  one  lamb  in  500 
and  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  have  both  done  so 
that  whatever  age  the  lambs  may  reach  they 
will  not  in  marketing  suffer  a  ''dock"  because 
of  their  ''bncky"  condition. 

WEANING. 

As  a  rule  it  is  not  necessary  to  wean  lambs 
before  they  go  to  market.  If  they  are  fed  right 
they  will  while  sucking  their  mothers  reach  a 
weight  of  75  to  85  lbs.  if  of  mutton  breeds. 
There  is  nothing  better  than  mothers'  milk  ex- 
cept more  mothers'  milk!  Lambs  that  are  to 
remain  on  the  farm,  however,  should  be  sep- 
arated from  the  ewes  when  ten  or  twelve  weeks 
old,  or  when  the  advent  of  warm  weather  makes 
parasitic  infection  a  danger.  An  exception  may 
be  made  of  the  ewe  lambs,  which  may  in  some 
cases  run  with  their  mothers  until  they  are 
weaned  naturally.  The  advantage  of  weaning 
is  that  it  makes  possible  the  separation  of  the 
young  and  old  and  thus  the  young  things  are 
put  by  themselves  on  clean  pasture  where  there 
can  be  no  contaminated  grass  and  thus  they  es- 
cape infection  and  parasitic  diseases.  The 
proper  way  to  wean  lambs  is  by  taking  away 


150  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

the  ewes,  leaving  the  lambs  in  the  pasture  where 
they  are  accustomed  to  run.  Build  in  the 
pasture  a  small  yard  or  corral  having  creeps 
through  which  the  lambs  can  run;  the  ewes, 
after  being  away  from  the  lambs  for  12  hours, 
are  returned  and  yarded  there  when  the 
lambs  will  run  in  and  milk  them  out,  and  when 
they  have  again  gone  out  to  feed  the  ewes  may 
be  taken  away  for  another  period.  Thus  there 
is  a  gradual  separation,  neither  ewes  nor  lambs 
experiencing  a  shock,  and  if  the  ewes  are  put 
on  rather  sparce  picking  they  will  soon  be  dry. 
There  is  but  one  danger,  viz. ;  there  may  be  some 
ewes  yet  milking  so  heavily  that  their  lambs 
will  suffer  from  gorging  upon  their  return.  The 
watchful  shepherd  will  be  aware  of  such  a  case 
and  catching  her  will  milk  her  out  somewhat 
before  letting  the  lamb  at  her,  or  if  it  be  a  late- 
born  lamb  allowing  it  to  run  with  her  a  little 
longer. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


SUMMER  CARE  AND  MANAGEMENT. 

THE  EWE   FLOCK. 

In  winter  the  shepherd  is  a  god  to  his  flock. 
Shut  away  from  natural  sources  of  food  supply 
the  sheep  depend  entirely  upon  his  providence 
and  therefore  their  thrift  rests  entirely  upon 
his  knowledge  and  willingness  to  give.  In  sum- 
mer Nature  provides  forage  in  abundance  and 
turned  out  in  the  fields  the  sheep  can  choose  as 
their  instincts  prompt  them.  They  should 
then  thrive  upon  pasture  as  nowhere  else.  They 
would  were  it  not  for  two  things :  one  that  the 
shepherd  too  often  considers  a  ^'pasture"  as 
being  an  enclosure  surrounded  by  a  good 
fencCj  regardless  of  what  the  forage  may  be 
within;  the  other  that  in  summer  time  come 
pests  of  flies,  maggots  and  worms,  internal  par- 
asites. The  shepherd  who  thoroughly  learns 
the  lesson  of  prevention  of  these  pests  will  find 
his  work  a  joy  and  will  stay  with  it  and  make  a 
large  profit  from  his  flock.  The  man  who  sim- 
ply turns  the  flock  to  pasture  and  gives  it  no 
more  attention  or  thought  will  very  likely  find 
himself  confronted  with  a  lot  of  diseased  and 

(151) 


152  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

unprofitable  sheep  within  a  few  years  and  his 
farm  perhaps  so  infected  with  germs  of  para- 
sites that  there  is  no  longer  any  profit  in  keep- 
ing sheep  there. 

Most  of  the  trouble  comes  from  the  internal 
parasites,  and  while  there  is  a  long  list  of  them 
that  afflict  sheep  nearly  all  the  trouble  in  our 
country  comes  from  two  or  three  species.  By 
far  the  most  prevalent  and  troublesome  is  the 
twisted  stomach  worm  (naemonchus  contortus). 
This  inhabits  the  fourth  stomach  of  the  ewe  and 
she  carries  it  through  the  winter  even  though 
she  may  seem  to  be  in  good  health.  In  spring 
and  during  summer  the  worms  become  filled 
with  eggs,  ^' ripen"  and  pass  away.  Just  how 
the  young  germs  then  re-enter  the  sheep  or  find 
a  home  in  the  more  tender  stomachs  of  the 
young  lambs  no  one  knows.  They  probably 
hatch  in  shallow  pools  of  stagnant  water  (infec- 
tions in  Texas  and  New  Mexico  are  thought  to 
be  by  this  means)  or  they  attach  themselves  to 
the  moist  grass  close  to  the  ground  and  are  tak- 
en in  from  that  position.  It  is  noticed  that  old 
and  rich  sheep  pastures  covered  with  short, 
sweet  grass  are  frequently  the  most  fatal  to 
young  lambs  even  when  there  is  no  stagnant 
water  in  them. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  stomach 
worm  has  done  more  to  discourage  sheep  hus- 
bandry in  the  corn-belt  of  America  than  all 
other  causes  put  together  and  many  a  man  has 
gone  out  of  business  from  the  depredations  of 
this  little  enemy  who  did  not  even  know  that 
such  a  pest  existed. 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  155 

The  symptoms  of  infection  from  stomach 
worms  are  first;  the  wool  appears  lusterless 
and  if  pressed  with  the  hand  does  not  spring 
out  again  as  when  the  animal  is  in  vigorous 
health.  Looking  more  closely,  the  red  in  the 
veins  in  and  about  the  eye  seems  pale  and  when 
you  part  the  wool  the  skin  has  lost  its  pinkness 
and  if  the  disease  has  progressed  far  it  looks 
white  and  chalky.  There  is  a  disordered  di- 
gestion and  perhaps  a  depraved  appetite,  the 
animal  may  gnaw  earth,  rotten  wool  or 
bark,  there  may  be  diarrhea  or  constipation. 
Before  death  comes  there  will  probably  be 
'^ black  scours."  Old  sheep  seldom  die  from 
stomach  worms  but  are  run  down  in  vitality  by 
the  pest  while  lambs  may  die  in  great  numbers. 

Stomach  worms  seldom  ever  trouble  sheep  in 
cool  regions  and  there  is  some  evidence  that  a 
temperature  of  50  degrees  in  the  soil  prevents 
their  development.  Therefore  they  do  not 
spread  through  the  flock  until  warm  weather, 
which  may  come  in  May  and  certainly  comes  in 
June.  Up  to  that  time  the  lamb  crop  is  com- 
paratively safe  to  run  with  the  mothers;  after 
that  the  idea  of  the  twisted  stomach  worm 
must  be  kept  ever  in  mind. 

It  may  be  well  here  to  call  attention  to  the 
fact  that  there  are  considerable  regions  in 
America  where  fear  of  the  stomach  worm  is 
not  felt.  In  Massachusetts,  Maine,  New  Hamp- 
shire and  Vermont  there  is  little  or  no  evidence 
of  Ha^monchus  infestation.  Northern  New  York 
and  the  mountain  regions  of  that  section 
should  be  almost  exempt  from  danger  if  flocks 


156  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

are  properly  managed.  Ontario  in  Canada, 
seems  to  be  without  the  dread  pest.  The  writer 
has  seen  wonderful  flocks  in  Vermont  and  On- 
tario managed  very  simply  on  thick,  sweet 
blue-grass  and  white  clover  pastures  and  with- 
out a  trace  of  this  malady.  The  road-side  sheep 
of  Ontario  graze  perennially  on  the  same 
restricted  areas  and  escape  infection.  So  in 
northern  Michigan,  in  the  Upper  Peninsula  es- 
pecially, is  a  grand  field  for  easy  and  almost 
care-free  shepherding.  Northern  Minnesota 
and  Wisconsin  should  prove  little  subject  to 
this  pest. 

One  evidence  that  cool  climates  deter  the  de- 
velopment of  the  Hsemonchus  contortus  is  seen 
in  northern  England  and  in  Scotland.  On  the 
Cheviot  hills  flocks  grow  as  thick  as  the  grass 
will  bear  and  for  many  centuries  this  has  been 
so.  In  Scotland  the  same  is  true  and  the  writer 
in  a  rather  careful  study  of  conditions  there 
saw  no  evidences  whatever  of  infestation  of 
this  pest.  There  is  some  parasitism  in  that  re- 
gion but  it  is  more  likely  to  be  of  tapeworms 
or  the  brain  parasite  that  causes  ''gid"  or 
'  ^  staggers. ' ' 

It  is  a  matter  of  wonder  to  the  writer  that 
more  men  do  not  in  New  England  and  our  other 
northern  border  states  turn  their  attention  to 
sheep  growing  on  a  scale  large  enough  to  make 
it  a  business.  There  should  be  whole  regions 
given  up  to  the  breeding  of  sheep  and  such 
breeds  as  the  Cheviot,  Lincoln  or  Cotswold 
would  there  find  a  congenial  home,  while 
Shropshires  and  Southdowns  would  thrive  well 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT. 


157 


and  furnish  the  market  with  prime  mutton. 
Shepherding  without  the  fear  of  stomach  worm 
infestation  is  a  delightful  occupation. 

The  simplest  method  of  keeping  the  lambs 
in  health  in  the  summer  time  is  to  separate 
them  from  the  ewes  and  put  them  on  grazing 
that  has  had  no  sheep  on  it  for  a  year,  or  at 
least  that  has  had  no  sheep  since  the  previous 


COTSWOLD   EWES. 

fall.     We  will  take  up  the  care  of  the  lambs  a 
little  later. 

The  ewe  flock  is  easily  kept  in  health.  Ma- 
ture sheep  are  resistent  to  parasites  unless  they 
are  depleted  in  vitality  by  reason  of  being  bred 
too  young,  or  by  suckling  their  lambs  when 
poorly  nourished.  It  is  only  necessary  to  give 
them  sound  grass  and  as  good  a  variety  of 
herbage  as  is  at  hand  and  to  change  them  from 


158  SHEEP   FARMING    IN  AMERICA. 

one  pasture  to  another  about  once  in  ten  days 
or  a  fortnight.  Tlie  old  adage,  "change  of 
pasture  makes  fat  sheep/'  is  true  and  it  de- 
pends upon  two  reasons:  change  gives  chance 
for  fresh  herbage  to  spring  up  and  it  gives  par- 
asitic genus  chance  to  die  before  finding  again 
a  Jiving  place  in  the  body  of  its  former  host. 
It  is  better  then  to  divide  large  sheep  pastures 
into  several  divisions  and  during  warm  weather, 
say  about  the  middle  of  May  till  the  middle  of 
September,  to  change  the  flock  from  one  division 
to  another  letting  cattle  or  horses  follow  them, 
or  letting  the  pastures  have  rest  till  the  flock 
comes  back  again. 

It  would  not  help  matters  any  to  keep  sheep 
in  each  division  and  change  by  transposition,  a 
common  and  sinful  practice,  as  one  lot  would 
readily  infect  the  other.  It  is  not  good  manage- 
ment therefore  fully  to  stock  a  pasture  with 
sheep  in  any  part  of  the  United  States  east  of 
a  line  running  about  with  the  100th  meridian,  or 
roughly  along  the  western  limit  of  the  corn-belt. 
The  exception  to  this  rule  would  be  in  the  case 
of  high  mountain  pastures  or  in  the  far  north, 
where  the  air  and  soil  are  cool  enough  to  deter 
the  spread  of  parasites. 

These  stomach  worms  are  not  very  hard  to 
destroy  or  drive  out  of  the  body  of  the  sheep. 
The  writer  introduced  the  gasoline  treatment 
into  the  United  States  and  it  has  given  excellent 
results  in  his  practice.  Coal  tar  creosote  is 
said  to  be  as  good  and  perhaps  better.  Some 
coal  tar  dips  are  used  successfully  in  destroy- 
ing the  stomach  worm.     We  w^ill  give  explicit 


SUMMER  CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  159 

directions    for    administering    these    remedies 
further  on. 

A    SYSTEM    OF    MANAGEMENT    THAT    INSURES    A 
HEALTHY  FLOCK. 

Two  men  in  America  fought  stomach  worms 
all  through  the  disastrous  years  of  the  90s, 
when  little  was  known  to  help ;  they  found  light, 
they  conquered  the  pests  in  a  measure,  and  kept 
on  keeping  sheep  and  studying  flock  manage- 
ment. Finally  each  made  a  journey  to  Eng- 
land and  studied  the  conditions  there  with  a 
view  to  solving  the  problem  for  America.  There 
they  found  hurdling  the  best  answer  to  the 
question.  Independently  of  each  other  they 
reached  the  same  conclusions  as  to  the  practical 
solution  of  the  question  in  America.  Dr.  H. 
B.  Arbuckle  of  West  Virginia  and  the  writer 
were  the  two  men.  But  they  wish  to  give  all  due 
credit  to  the  Department  of  Zoology  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Animal  Industry  at  Washington  for  at 
last  giving  accurate  details  of  the  life  history  of 
the  Haemonchus  contortus  (formerly  called 
Strongylus  contortus)  for  without  the  details 
that  we  now  have  no  certain  plan  could  have 
been  formulated. 

The  basis  of  this  plan  is  the  fact  that  lambs 
are  born  free  from  parasitic  infection ;  they  are 
healthy.  It  is  only  necessary  to  keep  them 
healthy  by  preventing  infection.  Their  moth- 
ers carry  over  in  their  bodies  the  germs  that  will 
infect  them  in  the  form  of  mature  stomach 
worms,  which  when  ripe  pass  away  in  the  drop- 
pings and  thus  infect  the  pasture.     When  the 


160  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

temperature  is  below  40°  the  eggs  will  not 
hatch.  AVhen  it  is  above  that  they  will  hatch 
out  in  a  few  hours  or  in  a  week  or  so,  depending 
upon  how  warm  it  is.  Freezing  or  drying  soon 
kills  the  unhatched  eggs.  So  it  is  seen  that  ewes 
will  not  pollute  a  field  in  Winter,  their  drop- 
pings are  sure  to  be  soon  frozen,  at  least  in  the 
region  where  sheep  are  mostly  kept.  But  if  the 
tiny  worm  hatches  from  the  egg  it  feeds  for  a 
time  upon  the  material  of  the  manure  and  con- 
tinues to  grow  till  it  is  about  one-thirtieth  of 
an  inch  long.  Then  it  creeps  up  on  a  blade  of 
grass  and  waits  to  be  swallowed  by  some  lamb, 
after  that  it  finishes  its  growth  within  the  fourth 
stomach  of  the  lamb,  and,  incidentally,  finishes 
the  lamb  as  well. 

Under  the  heading  of  "Diseases  of  Sheep" 
will  be  found  entire  the  very  interesting  bulle- 
tin of  Dr.  B.  H.  Ransom  on  this  subject. 

Now  how  to  manage  a  flock  with  safety  and 
profit  on  natural  grass.  To  begin  with  the  ewe 
flock  should  be  treated  for  stomach  worms. 
This  is  best  done  in  the  fall,  when  they  come 
from  pasture.  It  may  be  again  done  in  the 
spring  before  their  lambs  come.  Remedies 
for  treatment  will  be  found  under  the  heading 
"Diseases  of  Sheep."  The  writer  is  of  the 
opinion  that  use  of  some  of  the  coal-tar  dii^s,  in 
small  doses,  much  diluted,  will  eventually  be 
recognized  as  most  efficient.  This  treatment 
alone  has  doubled  the  weight  of  lambs  in  some 
experiments  in  Kentucky.  Next,  the  flock 
should  at  the  approach  of  spring  weather  be 
confined     to     the      yard      and      shed.     There 


STUDIES  IN  SHEEP  CHARACTER, 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  163 

are  two  reasons  for  this;  the  one  that  it 
is  better  for  the  grass,  and  thus  in  the  long  run 
better  for  the  flock,  and  the  other  that  there  is 
thus  no  contamination  of  land  over  which  the 
lambs  will  later  feed.  If  it  were  possible  to 
wholly  eradicate  the  worms  from  the  ewes  by 
treatment  this  care  would  not  be  needed,  but 
unfortunately  it  seems  almost  impossible  with 
our  present  knowledge  to  kill  all  of  the  worms 
by  any  medication.  While  confined  to  the  yard 
the  lambs  will  probably  be  born.  It  is  essen- 
tial  that  the  flock  be  well  fed  at  this  time  so  that 
the  ewes  be  full  of  milk.  If  desired  there  may 
be  provided  a  run  to  a  rye  field,  or  to  some  grass 
pasture  that  will  not  be  afterwards  used  that 
summer,  to  help  stimulate  the  milk  flow.  By 
May  15  probably  the  grass  will  be  so  forward 
that  the  flock  may  be  turned  out  for  good.  Now 
begins  the  new  management.  Instead  of  turn- 
ing the  flock  to  a  large  pasture  to  roam  over  it 
at  will  turn  them  on  a  very  small  part  of  it. 
How  best  to  manage  this  will  depend  upon  cir- 
cumstances. The  writer  thinks  that  in  our  land 
of  small  supply  of  labor  and  much  hurry  and 
turmoil  during  the  summer  season  it  is  safest 
to  divide  the  pastures  by  permanent  wire  fenc- 
es. These  are  not  costly  and  need  not  be  very 
high.  We  will,  then,  turn  the  whole  flock  to- 
gether into  the  first  division ;  none  shall  be  scat- 
tered about.  Of  course  there  may  be  two 
flocks,  one  with  lambs  and  a  dry  flock,  but  the 
dry  flock  had  better  be  put  apart  somewhere 
or  else  put  with  the  ewes.  It  will  not  do  to  let 
anything  interfere  with  the  regular  rotation  of 


164  SHEEP  FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

these  pastures.  Now  once  in  this  pasture  the 
flock  will  be  allowed  to  eat  it  down  close  to  the 
ground  That  will  not  hurt  the  grass,  for  all 
will  go  on  in  a  short  time  and  the  grass  may 
spring  up  again.  This  is  how  pastures  are 
often  managed  in  England  b}^  hurdles. 

Doctor  Eansom  says  that  sheep  may  probably 
be  safely  left  on  May  pasture  for  two  weeks. 
We  will  shorten  this  time  to  10  days,  to  make 
sure.  That  is,  the  germs  falling  to  the  earth 
could  not  before  10  days  find  their  way  back 
into  any  sheep  or  lamb,  and  we  are  going  to 
move  the  flock  on  before  they  are  able  to  get  in. 

Now  in  the  division  between  this  pasture 
and  the  next  we  will  place  creeps  so  fixed  that 
the  lambs  can  readily  pass  through  to  the  next 
enclosure.  This  they  will  early  learn  to  do, 
and  so  they  will  be  eating  the  fresher  parts  of 
the  herbage  in  advance  of  the  ewes. 

In  ten  days  then  the  whole  flock  will  go  for- 
ward one  pasture,  the  lambs  yet  having  access 
to  the  fresher  feeding  on  ahead.  Doctor  Ran- 
som says  we  will  need  for  this  sure  treatment 
the  following  divisions : 

For  May,  2  pastures. 

For  June,  4  pastures. 

For  July,  4  pastures. 

For  August,  4  pastures. 

For  September,  3  pastures. 

For  October,  2  pastures. 

That  makes  19  enclosures  in  all  and  insures 
that  the  flock  shall  be  kept  in  absolute  freedom 
from  infection  throughout  the  year. 

However,    one    will    not    absolutely    need  so 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  165 

many  enclosures  as  that.  By  June  many  of  the 
lamljs  will  be  ripe,  by  July  many  of  the  others, 
and  even  when  the  lambs  are  born  late  when 
managed  in  this  way  they  should  all  be  ripe  as 
peaches  by  the  middle  of  August.  After  the 
lambs  are  gone  the  ewes  can  be  managed  a  little 
less  carefully,  especially  if  they  are  in  strong 
condition,  though  there  is  a  comfort  in  knowing 
that  every  stomach  worm  germ  that  falls  to  the 
earth  must  die  from  lack  of  a  host. 

To  make  this  thing  doubly  successful  put  flat 
bottomed  troughs  in  the  pastures  ahead,  where 
the  lambs  run,  and  put  feed  in  them;  any  sort 
of  grain,  corn,  oats,  barley,  bran,  coarse-ground 
or  broken  cake  or  oil  meal.  Thus  the  lambs 
will  grow  like  weeds  and  pay  many  times  over 
for  their  grain.  Thus  more  sheep  may  be  car- 
ried on  the  same  ground  than  would  be  possible 
under  ordinary  treatment.  There  is  scarcely 
any  limit  to  the  number  of  sheep  that  can  be 
safely  kept  on  an  eastern  farm  under  this  sys- 
tem of  management.  The  limit  is,  of  course, 
the  size  of  the  farm  and  the  amount  of  grass. 
Even  this  can  be  greatly  helped  by  soiling. 
Racks  may  with  great  profit  be  placed  in  the 
fields  and  the  ewes  fed  green  crops,  fresh 
mown  oats,  peas,  clover  or  alfalfa.  Thus 
twice  as  many  ewes  may  be  kept  as  the  grass 
alone  will  support.  The  writer  would  suggest 
that  about  400  ewes  would  keep  one  man  nicely 
busy  in  caring  for  them  and  their  lambs,  haul- 
ing water  to  them,  soiling  somewhat,  and  feed- 
ing the  lambs.  He  would  not  hesitate  to  under- 
take the  manasrement  of  400  ewes  on  one  farm 


166  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

in  any  part  of  the  corn  belt,  the  regions  most  in- 
fested with  stomach  worms.  There  is  no  busi- 
ness more  sure  of  profit  than  this.  Lambs  sell 
remarkably  well  and  the  prospect  is  that  as 
the  western  ranges  are  diminished  that  they 
will  sell  better  for  the  ravages  of  the  stomach 
worm  deter  eastern  farmers  from  going  into 
the  business.  The  two  serious  obstacles  to  be 
overcome  are;  first,  the  question  of  water  and 
next,  the  question  of  shade.  Water  is  readily 
hauled  in  mounted  tanks  as  it  usually  is  in 
England.  Shade  is  not  absolutely  essential. 
The  writer  has  seen  very  fat  sheep  in  the  San 
Joaquin  valley  of  California  confined  to  the  al- 
falfa meadows  and  with  no  shade  whatever. 
Probably  a  system  of  canvas  sheds,  long  and 
narrow,  would  not  be  very  expensive  nor  too 
troublesome  for  one  man  to  move  and  set  up  un- 
aided. Any  sort  of  good  grass  will  serve. 
Kentucky  blue  grass  is  to  be  preferred,  perhaps 
brome  grass  (Bromus  inermis)  is  better,  clovers 
may  be  utilized  and  oats  sown  to  be  grazed  off, 
with  peas. 

Tlie  writer  does  not  hesitate  to  say  that  he 
looks  forward  to  seeing  many  sheep  farms  es- 
tablished in  the  cornbelt  each  carrying  from  200 
to  500  ewes  and  managed  nearly  under  this  sys- 
tem. He  feels  confident  that  no  other  branch  of 
the  live  stock  industry  holds  forth  better  pros- 
pects. 

It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  earlier 
the  lambs  are  born  the  sooner  they  will  be  gone 
to  market,  and  thus  the  fewer  pastures  will  be 
needed.     Also    the    market  is    usuallv  best  in 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT^  167 

June  and  July,  after  the  flood  of  fed  lambs  lias 
passed  and  before  the  new  crop  from  the  ranges 
has  started  to  come. 

Besides  the  stomach  worm  there  is  the  worm 
that  makes  the  nodular  disease  of  the  intestines. 
Any  observant  man  who  has  dissected  a  ma- 
ture sheep  has  often  noticed  on  the  small  intes- 
tines little  nodules  or  ''knots."  These  are 
really  small  tumors,  filled  with  a  greenish, 
cheesy  substance.  They  do  not  do  much  harm 
when  they  are  few  in  number  but  the  trouble  is 
a  cumulative  one  and  the  numbers  of  the  nodules 
increase  until  after  a  time  digestion  and  absorp- 
tion are  much  interfered  with.  Sometimes  parts 
of  the  intestines  becomes  calcified,  that  is,  so  im- 
pregnated with  lime  salts  that  they  are  almost 
like  stone.  Death  ensues  in  a  longer  or  shorter 
time  from  the  nodular  disease.  It  does  not 
work  quickly  as  does  the  disease  caused  by  the 
stomach  worm.  The  worm  causing  these  tu- 
mors is  called  oesophago stoma  columbianum. 

This  nodular  disease  is  a  hard  one  to  cure, 
if  indeed  it  is  possible  to  cure  it  at  all  after  it  is 
established.  Prevention  is  about  all  that  we 
can  do.  Dr.  W.  H.  Dalrymple  of  the  Louisiana 
Experiment  Station  has  shown,  however,  that 
it  is  readily  communicable  from  affected  ewes 
to  their  lambs  through  the  medium  of  the  pas- 
ture. He  has  also  demonstrated  that  where 
diseased  ewes  are  kept  confined  to  the  barn 
and  their  lambs  allowed  to  run  on  clean  pasture 
not  contaminated  by  the  presence  of  any  old 
sheep,  the  lambs  remain  healthy  and  thus  a  new 
and  healthful  stock  can  be  had  even  from  a  dis- 


168  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

eased  flock.  None  of  these  diseases  originates 
spontaneously.  There  are  no  other  known 
hosts  of  these  diseases  than  sheep,  goats  and 
perhaps  deer,  so  it  is  merely  a  question  of  start- 
ing with  the  lambs,  born  free  of  all  parasites, 
and  keeping  them  in  health  by  putting  them  on 
fresh  and  uninfeeted  pasture. 

USE   OF   SOWN   PASTURES. 

The  easy  way  of  management  is  to  use  only 
the  wild  or  natural  grass  pastures,  the  same 
ones  year  after  3  ear,  but  there  is  often  great 
good  resultant  from  sowing  special  pasture 
crops  for  the  flock.  Eye  sown  in  the  fall  will 
afford  very  useful  pasture  before  Christmas 
and  again  very  early  in  spring.  If  vetches  are 
sown  with  the  rye  in  mild  latitudes  they  will  to- 
gether in  spring  make  good  grazing,  and  clover 
sown  in  March  will  take  the  land  after  the  rye 
is  gone.  Eye  is  not  a  rich  grazing  crop ;  in  fact, 
is  a  poor  one,  but  it  adds  the  element  of  suc- 
culence to  the  diet  and  thus  has  its  value.  Then 
it  gives  employment  and  exercise  in  the  way 
that  the  ewe  likes  best  to  take  it,  wandering 
about  the  field  and  picking  here  and  there. 
Then  there  is  almost  no  danger  at  all  of  para- 
site infection  from  grazing  rye,  or  from  graz- 
ing any  sown  crop  for  that  matter.  Eye  where 
clover  is  sown  with  it  should  not  be  too  closely 
grazed  after  the  clover  gets  started  and  it  is 
well  to  cut  it  for  hay  before  it  heads.  If  per- 
mitted to    head    it   becomes  woodv  and  makes 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  171 

very  inferior  hay,  and  the  clover  does  not  come 
on  again  so  quickly. 

OATS  AND  ALFALFA  PASTURE. 

Oats  sown  early  in  spring  with  clover  or  al- 
falfa form  an  excellent  pasture  for  about  two 
months  in  late  spring  and  early  summer,  fol- 
lowing the  use  of  rye.  Oats  should  be  sown  on 
good  soil  or  should  be  well  fertilized  and  may 
be  sown  rather  thickly,  as  much  as  two  bushels 
per  acre,  with  about  a  peck  of  clover  or  alfalfa. 
Ii  the  land  is  well  drained,  a  clay  loam  with 
limestone  in  it,  alfalfa  will  make  the  best 
growth  and  pasture.  Red  clover  however, 
thrives  on  thinner  soils  than  alfalfa  and  is  the 
pioneer  among  the  legumes.  On  any  rich  lime- 
stone clay  soils,  however,  alfalfa  is  the  queen 
of  forage  crops  from  Labrador  to  the  Grulf.  In 
depasturing  oats  where  legumes  have  been  sown 
with  them  some  judgment  must  be  exercised 
else  the  delicate  clovers  will  suffer.  It  is  well 
to  allow  the  oats  to  get  up  about  eight  inches 
high,  then  turn  in  and  permit  the  sheep  to  eat 
them  down  pretty  close,  which  should  be  done 
in  three  or  four  days.  If  there  are  not  enough 
sheep  to  do  that,  divide  the  field  by  temporary 
fences  or  hurdles,  depasturing  a  part  at  a  time. 

As  soon  as  the  oats  are  eaten  down  take  the 
sheep  off  and  let  the  plants  come  again.  They 
may  thus  be  repeatedly  grazed  and  the  result 
will  be  a  beautiful  stand  of  clover  or  alfalfa. 

After  midsummer,  however,  it  may  be  wise 
to  keep  the  flock  entirely  off  this  field,  letting 


172  SHEEP    FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

the  clover  or  alfalfa  get  strong  to  withstand  the 
trial  of  the  coming  winter. 

Young  clover  and  alfalfa  should  never  be 
grazed  hard  nor  be  eaten  close  the  first  year 
else  tlie  stand  will  be  seriously  weakened. 

CLOVER  AND  ALFALFA  PASTURE. 

By  all  odds  the  most  useful  summer  pastures 
in  the  cornbelt  are  those  composed  of  clover 
or  alfalfa.  There  are  several  distinguishing 
advantages  in  these  crops :  they  renew  the  soil, 
they  are  rich  in  protein  and  add  to  the  size, 
health  and  vigor  of  the  sheep;  they  afford  a 
great  amount  of  grazing  and  they  are  almost  ab- 
solutely free  from  danger  of  carrying  parasit- 
ic infection.  The  reason  of  this  healthfulness 
of  these  plants  is  that  sheep  crop  the  higher 
leaves  and  stems,  leaving  the  parts  close  to  the 
ground  and  thus  escape  germs  that  may  lurk 
down  close  to  the  earth. 

Either  red  clover  or  alfalfa  is  too  richly  a 
nitrogenous  product,  however,  to  be  grazed 
alone.  Sheep  confined  to  either  of  them  must 
eat  too  much  protein  and  therefore  will  crave 
food  of  more  carbonaceous  or  starchy  composi- 
tion. They  will  greedily  eat  grasses  or  even 
hay  or  dry  straw  to  help  balance  their  ration. 
Therefore*  it  is  wise  to  sow  a  mixture  of  grasses 
with  the  clovers.  The  best  grasses  for  this 
purpose  are  smooth  brome  grass  and  orchard 
grass.  Either  of  these  come  on  quickly  and 
give  a  continuous  grazing  with  the  clovers.  Of 
the  two,  brome  grass  (Bromus  inermis)  is  by 
far  the  better,  yielding  more  grazing  and  be- 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT,  173 

ing  better  relished  by  the  stock.  Indeed  this 
brome  grass  is  one  of  the  best  pasture  grasses 
we  have  and  of  easy  culture,  though  it  should 
always  be  sown  in  connection  with  some  clover, 
else  it  fails  to  yield  as  it  should. 

Red  clover  and  alfalfa  should  not  be  mixed 
together.  If  they  are  the  red  clover  having 
the  habit  of  more  vigorous  growth  at  first 
crowds  badly  its  slower  neighbor.  It  is  wise, 
however,  to  put  about  10  per  cent  of  alfalfa  seed 
in  all  clover  mixtures  sown  on  suspected  alfal- 
fa soil,  for  the  small  amount  of  alfalfa  will  in- 
fect the  field  with  the  alfalfa  bacteria  so  that  in 
after  years  it  may  be  all  profitably  sown  to  al- 
falfa alone. 

DANGEK    FKOM    CLOVEE    AND    ALFALFA   PASTUKE. 

Sheep  grazing  leguminous  crops  often  suffer 
from  hoven,  or  bloat,  caused  by  the  fermenta- 
tion of  the  tender  leaves  within  the  paunch. 
The  greatest  danger  of  this  is  when  the  clover 
is  young  and  tender  and  growing  rapidly. 

After  alfalfa  becomes  woody  there  is  not 
much  danger  from  bloating.  Nor  is  there  so 
much  danger  when  grasses  are  mixed  with  the 
clovers  in  the  pasture.  After  sheep  become  ac- 
customed to  eating  the  clovers,  they  have  then 
learned  somewhat  by  instinct  how  much  to  store 
within.  Pasturing  on  clovers  is  never  abso- 
lutely safe,  yet  certain  simple  rules  will  almost 
always  prevent  trouble. 

First,  the  clovers  should  have  reached  neariy 
to  the  blossoming  stage  before  the  sheep  are 
turned  in. 


174  SHEEP   FARMING    IN  AMERICA. 

Tlie  sheep  should  not  be  hungry.  They 
should  have  a  prelhninary  course  of  feeding 
of  some  sort  till  their  appetites  are  well  sated. 
Perhaps  a  fill-up  on  good  grass  pasture  will 
generally  best  accomplish  this. 

They  should  go  on  the  clover  or  alfalfa  pas- 
ture after  eating  all  they  will  of  other  things  at 
about  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  at  a  time 
when  they  naturally  prefer  to  cease  eating  and 
go  to  lie  in  the  shade. 

They  should  be  given  salt  as  soon  as  put  upon 
pasture,  and  salt  mixed  with  air- slaked  lime 
should  be  kept  before  them. 

They  should  never  thereafter  be  removed 
night  or  day,  rain  or  shine,  as  long  as  they  are 
desired  to  graze  the  field. 

Of  course  they  may  have  the  run  of  an  ad- 
jacent grass  pasture,  and  be  permitted  to  go 
and  come  at  will,  but  they  must  never  be  taken 
away  even  for  a  few  hours  and  allowed  to  get 
hungry  and  then  returned  to  the  clover  or  alfal- 
fa field.  If  the}^  are,  there  is  danger  that  they 
will  gorge  themselves  too  suddenly  and  bloating 
may  result. 

The  writer  devotes  considerable  space  to  the 
subject  because  he  has  had  a  long  and  success- 
ful experience  in  pasturing  clover  and  espec- 
ially alfalfa  with  sheep,  and  in  his  practice  he 
has  found  these  rules  essential  to  success.  It 
is  well  worth  the  risk,  seeing  that  this  pasture 
returns  such  well  nourished  and  healthy  sheep 
and  is  so  free  from  danger  of  parasitic  infec- 
tion. The  writer  has  annually  lost  from  2  to  4 
per  cent  from  bloat  on  alfalfa  pasture,  com- 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  175 

monly  of  animals  not  in  the  best  health,  and  if 
it  has  returned  the  other  96  or  98  per  cent  in 
fine  health  to  him,  he  considers  the  sacrifice  of 
small  amount. 

The  following  remedies  for  a  bloated  sheep 
are  good: 

When  first  in  distress,  administer  three 
tablespoonfuls  of  raw  linseed  oil  in  which  is  a 
teaspoonful  of  turpentine. 

If  this  does  not  relieve  at  once,  tie  or  hold 
a  large  corn  cob  or  stick  of  similar  size  cross- 
ways  in  the  mouth  like  a  bridle  bit;  hold  the 
head  up,  stand  astride  the  ewe  and  seek  gently 
to  press  out  the  gas  with  the  knee.  Do  not  use 
too  much  force. 

Pour  several  buckets  of  very  cold  water 
slowly  on  the  distended  side  over  the  paunch. 
This  often  of  itself  relieves  the  distress  by  stop- 
ping the  accumulation  of  gas. 

If  there  is  too  much  distension  for  these 
measures  to  relieve,  make  an  incision  on  the 
left  side,  high  up,  where  the  greatest  disten- 
sion is  seen,  and  let  the  gas  escape.  A  trochar 
is  best  for  this  but  a  penknife  will  serve.  The 
incision  should  be  just  large  enough  to  insert 
some  small  tube— a  small  joint  of  cane  fishing 
pole,  a  pipe  stem  or  goose  quill. 

Keep  hold  of  the  tube,  else  it  will  slip  within 
the  paunch  and  be  lost  and  perhaps  do  serious 
damage  to  the  sheep.  After  relief  has  been 
had  disinfect  the  wound.  It  should  not  be 
large  enough  to  need  stitches  but  care  must  be 
had  that  flies  do  not  blow  it.     Pine  tar  will  re- 


176 


SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 


pel  flies.     The  wool  should  be  cut  away  from 
the  wound. 

There  will  be  some  years  when  there  will  not 
be  occasion  for  any  remedy  whatever  and  with 
the  same  treatment  there  will  be  at  other  times 
more    or    less  trouble.     During    hot    and  wet 


YEARLING  OXFORD  RAM. 

weather  when  alfalfa  is  stimulated  to  very  rap- 
id growth  more  trouble  may  be  expected. 

The  writer  has  been  in  the  habit  of  pasturing 
alfalfa  and  yet  allowing  the  sheep  to  shade  in 
the  barn,  permitting  them  to  come  off  in  the 
morning  when  it  gets  too  hot  for  their  comfort. 
He  has,  however,  been  careful  that  a  boy  should 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT. 


177 


stir  them  out  and  send  them  fieldward  again  by 
three  or  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

In  sowing  alfalfa  that  probably  may  be  pas- 
tured, be  sure  lo  sow  a  mixture  of  brome  grass 
(Bromus  inermis)  with  it.  A  light  scattering 
of  brome  seed  is  best,  else  it  will  soon  crowd  out 


LEICESTER  RAM. 

the  alfalfa.  We  have  had  no  difficulty  in  erad- 
icating the  brome  grass  when  afterward  the 
fields  have  been  cultivated. 

The  writer  has  solved  most  of  the  problems 
of  summer  management  in  the  way  outlined. 
One  serious  trouble,  however,  remains  for  solu- 


178  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

tioii.  The  ewes  will  often  get  too  fat  under  such 
treatment  and  sometimes  refuse  to  breed  reg- 
ularly. He  has  not  yet  found  a  solution  of  this 
problem.  In  England,  where  this  often  occurs, 
the  fat  ewes  would  go  for  mutton  and  there 
would  end  that  difficulty,  but  where  one  has  a 
flock  of  pure-bred  sheep  of  considerable  value 
this  is  not  a  satisfactory  solution  for  America. 

Some  manner  of  exercising  the  flock  will 
probably  prove  the  best  cure  for  the  sterility 
but  as  a  business  proposition  with  a  grade  flock 
it  is  no  very  serious  matter. 

Where  one  is  within  reach  of  tracts  of  rough 
and  poor  mountain  pasture  the  problem  is 
solved  in  a  natural  way,  by  turning  the  flock 
onto  this  thin  grass  where  they  must  take  abun- 
dant exercise  by  walking  and  climbing  and  will 
not  find  an  excess  of  food.  This  is  the  natural 
way  of  preventing  an  excess  of  flesh. 

It  is  not  a  safe  plan  to  attempt  reduction  of 
flesh  by  over  pasturing  of  small  and  fertile 
fields.  The  result  is  to  cause  the  ewes  to  gnaw 
into  the  ground  for  the  herbage  there  and  para- 
sitic infection  is  pretty  sure  to  follow. 

THE  USE  OF  EAPE. 

Rape  belongs  to  the  same  order  of  plants  as 
the  cabbages  and  rape  leaves  have  a  similar 
taste  and  appearance  as  cabbages.  On  rich 
soil  rape  yields  an  astonishing  amount  of  for- 
age, which  must  be  eaten  green,  as  owing  to  its 
watery  nature  it  can  not  be  cured  into  hay. 
There  seems  a  peculiar  affinity  between  the  cab- 
bage family  and  the  sheep.    Common  cabbages, 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  179 

thousand-headed  kale,  rape,  swede  turnips— 
all  are  greedily  eaten  and  make  good,  healthful 
develoi^ment. 

Rape  comes  in  to  good  play  during  the  drouths 
of  autumn  and  after  cool,  frosty  weather  has 
stopped  the  growth  of  grass  in  the  fall.  It  may 
be  sown  in  the  corn  at  the  time  of  the  last  work- 
ing, using  about  three  or  four  pounds  of  seed 
to  the  acre  and  letting  the  cultivator  cover  it. 
Should  the  season  prove  moderately  moist  there- 
after the  rape  will  come  on  and  be  ready  to  make 
a  vigorous  growth  as  soon  as  the  corn  is  cut. 
By  the  middle  of  October  it  may  be  waist  high 
over  the  field  and  will  atford  an  immense 
amount  of  grazing  until  Christmas  or  later. 

Care  should  be  taken  not  to  turn  on  rape  early 
in  the  morning  in  late  fall  when  it  is  frosted 
as  every  leaf  that  is  bent  at  that  time  will  black- 
en and  decay.  It  takes  a  cold  of  about  12  de- 
grees to  injure  rape  if  it  is  not  disturbed  until 
it  has  thawed  again. 

Sheep  will  fatten  on  rape  though  an  addition 
of  grain  is  profitable  and  access  to  a  grass  pas- 
ture or  the  regular  feeding  of  good  hay  in  con- 
nection with  it  is  very  desirable.  There  is  some 
danger  from  bloat  in  rape  feeding,  though  the 
writer  has  never  had  to  treat  a  sheep  for  rape 
bloating  nor  lost  one. 

The  Dwarf  Essex  seems  the  best  variety  to 
sow. 

CABBAGES. 

In  fitting  sheep  for  the  show  ring  cabbages 
are  almost  indispensable  and  for  feeding  in  fall 
and  earlv  winter  they  are  most  excellent.    In 


180  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

many  places  cabbage  grows  luxuriantly  and  a 
given  amount  of  sheep  feed  can  probably  be  as 
cheaply  grown  from  this  plant  as  in  any  other 
way.  In  considering  these  foods  it  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  a  certain  portion  of  succu- 
lence is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  sheep  if  it 
is  to  be  kept  in  perfect  health.  It  is  less  trou- 
ble to  grow  the  common  farm  crops  of  grain  and 
hay  and  sheep  can  be  maintained  upon  them 
alone,  but  not  in  their  highest  degree  of  health 
and  profit.  There  is  also  in  the  rape,  turnips 
and  cabbages  some  quality  that  makes  for 
healthful  growth  of  wool. 

PUMPKINS. 

Among  the  best  autumn  and  early  winter 
supplementary  foods  for  sheep  are  pumpkins. 
They  are  readily  grown  in  the  cornfield  or  in  a 
separate  field  by  themselves  and  yield  a  large 
amount  of  feed  to  the  acre.  Our  method  of 
growing  is  to  use  pumpkin  seeds  to  replant,  with 
in  the  cornfield,  putting  them  in  wherever 
missing  hills  occur.  In  this  manner  we  have  se- 
sured  as  high  as  two  tons  of  pumpkins  to  the 
acre  without  in  the  least  injuring  the  crop  of 
corn,  provided  the  season  proved  favorable.  In 
fact,  the  shading  of  the  ground  between  the  corn 
rows  by  the  wide  leaves  of  the  pumpkin  vines 
serves  to  help  conserve  the  moisture  when  it 
is  most  needed  and  the  corn  is  often  the  better 
for  the  association  of  the  vines.  It  is  safer, 
however,  to  plant  pumpkins  by  themselves. 

Pumpkins  serve  the  flock  in  two  ways:  first, 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  181 

as  a  direct  and  healthful  food  of  considerable 
nutritive  value  and  yet  never  dangerous  from 
excessive  richness,  and  next  from  the  direct  me- 
dicinal value  of  the  seeds.  Pumpkin  seeds  are 
among  the  best  vermifuges  known.  They 
should  never  be  removed  from  the  pumpkins  but 
fed  all  together,  and  if  fed  in  considerable 
amounts,  the  direct  and  immediate  improve- 
ment in  the  flock  will  be  very  apparent.  Tape- 
worms have  never  troubled  the  writer's  flock 
in  the  least  and  no  other  reason  can  be  attrib- 
uted than  the  annual  liberal  pumpkin  feeding. 

The  way  to  feed  pumpkins  is  to  strew  them 
about  the  pasture  without  cutting  them  open  at 
all,  or  at  least  cutting  only  a  few  of  them.  If 
many  are  cut  the  sheep  eat  only  the  soft  inside 
parts  at  first,  with  the  seeds,  and  might  in  this 
way  get  too  many  seeds  for  their  good,  whereas 
when  they  must  gnaw  a  way  into  the  pumpkin 
they  will  eat  it  up  clean  before  attacking  an- 
other. The  pumpkins  keep  better  to  be  scat- 
tered over  the  field  than  to  be  piled  in  heaps,  at 
least  before  frost  strikes  them. 

The  secret  in  growing  pumpkins  is,  first,  to 
have  the  land  rich,  then  to  plant  a  great  sur- 
plus of  seeds.  The  striped-cucumber  beetle  rev- 
els on  pumpkin  leaves,  and  if  not  enough  are 
planted  for  him  and  you  also  he  will  reap  the 
entire  harvest  at  an  early  date.  They  may  be 
thinned  after  beginning  to  vine. 

It  is  particularly  desirable  to  have  the  ewe 
flock  thriving  and  increasing  in  flesh  at  time 
of  breeding.  Not  only  will  the  lambs  con- 
ceived at  such  a  time  be  of  superior  vigor  but 


182  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

there  will  be  a  larger  number  of  twins  among 
them. 

CARE   OF   THE   FEET. 

When  the  sheep  are  turned  to  pasture  in  the 
spring  their  feet  should  be  carefully  trimmed 
and  shortened.  It  is  easier  to  do  this,  if  they 
are  permitted  to  go  in  the  wet  grass  for  a  day 
or  two  and  are  taken  in  while  their  hoofs  are  yet 
soft.  They  will  at  such  a  time  cut  like  cheese, 
whereas  if  they  are  trimmed  when  dry  they  will 
be  very  horny  in  texture. 

Nature  evidently  intended  the  sheep  for 
climbing  over  very  rocky  soil  where  the  feet 
would  be  subjected  to  rapid  wear.  It  is  prob- 
able, too,  that  in  selecting  individuals  for  their 
superior  wool  growth  the  horn  growth  of  the 
feet  has  kept  apace  with  the  wool  growth  in 
some  degree,  since  there  is  a  relationship  be- 
tween horn  growth  and  wool.  In  any  event  it  is 
very  unlikely  that  with  the  amount  of  travel 
needed  on  arable  farms  the  sheep  will  sufficient- 
ly wear  down  their  feet  to  relieve  the  shepherd 
of  need  to  trim  them  twice  a  year,  and  with  some 
breeds  more  often. 

Unless  the  feet  are  kept  trimmed  they  will 
become  deformed  and  the  sheep  will  stand  on 
one  side  of  the  foot,  with  the  ankle  turned  over, 
giving  doubtless  some  pain  and  a  very  awkward 
look. 

The  aim  of  trimming  should  be  to  keep  the 
feet  as  short  as  possible,  not  to  cut  to  the 
quick,  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  stand  natur- 
ally and  squarely  upon  them.  It  is  probable 
that  lack  of   trimming   is    in    some  degree  re- 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  183 

sponsible  for  disease  of  the  feet.  Diseases  may 
occur,  unfortunately,  even  in  feet  that  have  been 
well  trimmed,  and  the  subject  must  have  at- 
tention. 

rOOT-EOT   AND    FOOT-SCALD. 

The  shepherd  commonly  makes  a  distinction 
between  a  simple  contagious  affection  of  the 
foot  called  foot-scald  and  the  real  and  very 
serious  disease,  also  contagious,  called  foot- 
rot.  There  seems  reason  to  believe  that  there 
is  a  form  of  foot-scald  that  rapidly  goes 
through  a  flock  yet  readily  yields  to  treatment 
that  is  distinct  from  the  more  severe  and  less 
easily  eradicated  foot-rot. 

It  is  the  belief  of  the  writer,  however,  that 
quite  often  the  shepherd  hides  his  genuine  foot- 
rot  behind  the  more  harmless  appellation. 

There  is,  however,  an  inflammation  of  the 
skin  between  the  claws  of  the  foot  that  does  not 
extend  beneath  the  horny  covering  of  the  foot 
itself  and  that  yields  quite  readily  to  a  simple 
treatment  of  putting  the  sheep  upon  a  dry  foot- 
ing, cleansing  from  filth  and  an  application  of 
some  coal  tar  dip  or  carbolic  acid. 

When  the  disease  has  penetrated  beneath  the 
shell  of  the  foot  and  there  is  found  there  a  wa- 
tery, evil-smelling  exudation  it  is  genuine  foot- 
rot  and  should  have  immediate  and  thorough 
treatment,  with  preventive  measures  to  pre- 
clude its  spreading  to  the  rest  of  the  flock. 

First,  it  is  necessary  to  pare  away  all  the 
horn  that  hides  the  diseased  surface.  The  dis- 
ease being  one  of  germ  origin,  there  is  no  hope 


184  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

of  cure  except  through  the  complete  destruction 
of  the  germs,  and  they  must  therefore  be  uncov- 
ered from  their  hiding.  A  sharp  knife  in  the 
hands  of  a  careful  and  thorough  man  is  a  kind 
thing  to  the  afflicted  sheep,  even  though  it  may 
cause  some  temporary  pain. 

When  once  the  diseased  surface  is  laid  bare 
it  is  only  necessary  to  wet  it  well  with  a  strong 
solution  of  blue  vitriol  (sulphate  of  copper),  or 
butter  of  antimony,  to  bind  it  up  if  much  horn 
has  been  cut  away  and  keep  the  sheep  on  dry 
footing  for  a  time. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  prevent  the 
spread  of  the  disease  through  the  flock.  To  do 
this  all  feet  should  be  carefully  trimmed  and 
any  sore  ones  given  individual  treatment. 
Then  a  trough  6"  wide  in  the  bottom,  12"  wide 
at  the  top,  12"  deep  and  about  10'  long  should  be 
made  of  three  two-inch  planks.  This  must  be 
enclosed  with  hurdles  so  that  the  sheep  may  be 
compelled  to  pass  through  it.  The  writer  has 
fastened  such  a  trough  at  the  door  of  the  sheep 
barn  so  that  in  order  to  ]:)ass  out  the  flock  must 
pass  through  the  trough.  Then  it  was  only 
necessary  to  confine  the  flock  for  a  time  and  they 
would  of  their  own  accord  go  out,  each  one 
walking  through  the  trough. 

This  treatment  was  given  daily  for  a  week_ 
or  so,  as  it  took  little  of  the  shepherd's  time  and 
was  inexpensive.     By  this  means  foot  disord- 
ers were  eradicated  from  the  flock  after  having 
caused  much  trouble. 

In  the  trough  was  placed  a  simple  lime  white- 
wash, in  which  was  sufficient  blue  vitriol  to  give 


SUMMER  CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  185 

it  a  blue  color.  This  effectually  prevented  the 
spread  of  the  disease  and  cured  many  cases  in 
their  incipiency. 

In  no  other  business  is  it  more  true  that  ''a 
stitch  in  time  saves  nine"  than  in  the  care  of 
sheep. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  average  American 
shepherd  sells  out  when  foot  disease  strikes 
his  flock  when  he  can  so  easily  control  and  erad- 
icate the  disease.  Troubles  must  come  in  all 
endeavors,  so  when  one  has  been  suffered  and 
the  remedy  therefor  found  it  is  not  a  reason  for 
abandonment  of  enterprise  but  the  more  reason 
for  continuance,  rather  than  to  ''fly  to  troubles 
we  know  not  of." 

ADVENT  OF  LATE  LAMBS. 

There  are  situations  where  it  is  desirable  that 
lambing  should  be  delayed  until  grass  comes. 
When  forage  and  grain  are  scarce  and  the 
means  not  at  hand  to  well  nourish  the  ewe  after 
lambing  until  grass  comes,  when  indeed  grass  is 
the  chief  asset  of  the  shepherd  it  is  wise  to  time 
the  lambing  so  that  the  lambs  will  come  at  about 
the  same  time  as  the  grass.  Indeed  a  lamb 
dropped  then  will  make  a  far  better  growth  than 
one  dropped  weeks  earlier  from  a  poorly-nour- 
ished ewe  half  starved  by  its  mother  because 
she  cannot  give  it  much  milk  before  she  herself 
has  been  fed.  Nor  will  such  a  ewe  respond  in 
her  milk  flow  to  green  grass  as  she  would  did 
her  lamb  come  after  grass  has  started  anew  in 
her  veins  a  vigorous  coursing  of  the  vital  fluid. 

It   is  most   wise,   however,   to  see  to  it  that 


186  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

these  late  lambing  ewes  are  strengthened  by 
some  supplementary  feeding  before  the  lambs 
appear.  A  little  grain  fed  then  will  repay  its 
cost  several  times,  for  the  well-nourished  ewe 
goes  easily  through  the  pains  of  lambing  and 
loves  well  her  offspring  if  she  has  milk  for  it 
inside  her  udder. 

The  shepherd  who  herds  on  grass  may  have 
the  lamb  crop  all  born  within  a  very  few  days. 
They  will  be  anxious  days  while  they  last,  but 
the  agony  is  soon  over,  seeing  that  this  is  Na- 
ture's time  set  for  this  miracle  to  take  place, 
and  the  ewes  naturally  conceive  readily  to 
lamb  then.  Great  watchfulness  is  necessary 
and  there  are  certain  helps  that  may  be  men- 
tioned. 

THE   LAMBING    TENT. 

Many  Western  sheep  owners  use  small  shel- 
ter tents  about  -42  inches  square,  supported  by 
curved  iron  rods,  to  shelter  the  ewe  and  her  lamb 
from  storm.  These  tents  are  readily  carried 
and  set  over  the  ewe  any  where.  They  serve  to 
keep  her  and  her  offspring  together  while  they 
are  becoming  acquainted  and  by  turning  the 
chilling  rain  save  many  lambs  that  would  other- 
wise be  lost.  As  these  tents  are  inexpensive  and 
can  readily  be  made  by  the  shepherd  himself 
some  of  them  should  be  at  hand  when  an  early 
lambing  on  grass  is  planned. 

It  is  desirable  to  scatter  the  flock  as  much  as 
possible  at  this  time,  for  then  the  ewes  are  the 
more  readily  kept  track  of  and  their  lambs  are 
not  so  often  lost  through  mixing  and  straying 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT. 


187 


from  their  mothers.  This  latter  is  particularly 
dangerous  in  case  of  twins,  seeing  that  the  ewe 
is  often  content  if  she  has  one  lamb  with  her 
and  looks  for  the  other  very  little. 


f^^^^^^m^lK£^^.^j^M^M£l^l^M 


IMPORTED   HAMPSHIRE   RAM  LAMBS. 

There  are  exceptions  to  this  rule  however. 
The  writer  has  known  Dorset  ewes  that  seemed 
to  have  perfect  memories  and  a  knowledge  of 
nunibers  and  would  seek  as  earnestly  for  a 
strayed  twin  as  though  it  were  a  single  lost 
lamb. 


188  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

Seeing  that  the  ewes  at  this  time  must  give 
their  attention  to  tlieir  lambs  and  cannot  wan- 
der wide  in  search  of  food,  it  is  a  good  plan  to 
lamb  them  on  some  specially  good  piece  of  grass. 
xVnd  to  aid  in  keeping  them  quiet  the  shepherd 
may  carry  with  him  oats,  giving  a  handful  to 
the  ewe  wherever  he  finds  her.  It  is  hardly 
probable  that  a  larger  per  cent  of  lambs  will  be 
saved  by  lambing  on  grass  than  by  lambing 
earlier,  nor  will  they  ever  be  so  good  as  early 
Jambs  pushed  from  the  start,  but  they  may  be 
produced  with  comparatively  little  trouble  and 
in  some  situations  are  the  only  ones  that  it  is 
practicable  to  produce. 

No  lambs  should  be  permitted  to  be  born  later 
than  the  first  of  May,  except  in  a  high  mountain- 
ous region  where  grass  starts  late  and  cool 
summer  weather  prevails.  Lambs  born  in  May, 
June  or  July  seldom  amount  to  much,  owing  no 
doubt  to  the  fact  that  they  are  almost  sure  to 
become  infested  with  parasites.  Between  April 
and  September,  then,  there  should  be  no  lamb- 
ing done.  liather  than  to  lamb  out  of  season  the 
ewe  should  be  allowed  to  go  over  open  and  she 
may  be  bred  in  the  spring  for  fall  lambs. 

FALL  LAMBS. 

The  best  sheep  are  developed  from  fall-born 
lambs.  They  may  begin  to  come  in  September. 
From  this  time  on  till  winter  the  conditions  are 
excellent  for  their  growth  and  development. 
The  weather  then  is  favorable,  food  is  abundant, 
the  ewes  are  easily  made  to  milk  largely  and 


SUMMER   CARE   AND   MANAGEMENT.  189 

instead  of  the  weather  becoming  warmer  and 
more  oppressive  it  becomes  steadily  more  and 
more  stimulating  to  the  lambs.  And,  best  of 
all,  there  is  little  danger  of  parasites  at  this 
time.  The  fall  lambs  come  out  in  spring  half 
matured  and  able  to  go  safely  and  healthfully 
through  the  trials  of  summer.  Or  if  they  are 
sold  at  the  market  they  bring  long  prices  in 
winter  time.  It  is  not  altogether  easy  to  get 
ewes  to  lamb  in  the  fall.  Certain  breeds  refuse 
altogether  to  do  this,  but  with  some  of  the  Me- 
rinos and  their  grades  and  the  Dorsets  and  Dor- 
set grades  it  is  not  so  difficult  of  accomplish- 
ment. To  get  the  ewes  to  breed  in  spring  the 
conditions  of  fall  must  be  complied  with  as 
nearly  as  possible. 

First,  the  ewes  must  have  their  lambs  of  the 
previous  crop  born  as  early  as  possible  so  that 
they  may  be  weaned  and  new  strength  gained 
from  a  term  of  rest. 

Next,  they  must  be  sufficiently  well  fed  so 
that  they  will  feel  an  ascending  current  of 
health  throughout  their  veins. 

They  must  have  the  ram  turned  with  them  be- 
fore warm  weather  comes  on.  April  and  May 
are  the  months  in  which  to  breed  ewes  for  fall 
lambs. 

The  rams  must  not  as  a  usual  thing  be  per- 
mitted to  run  continually  with  the  ewes  at  this 
time.  If  they  do  they  themselves  soon  acqui- 
esce in  the  idea  that  it  is  an  unnatural  time 
for  breeding.  It  is  wise  if  the  ram  can  be  kept 
up  and  turned  with  the  flock  for  only  an  hour 
or  two  each  day,  as  described  in  earlier  pages 


190  SHEEP  FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

of  this  work.  Or  two  rams  may  be  used,  their 
rivalry  inciting  them  to  extra  exertion. 

There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  breeding 
instinct  is  in  part  a  result  of  mental  processes 
that  may  be  stimulated  by  suggestion.  This  is 
almost  as  true  of  the  sheep  as  it  is  of  higher 
races  of  animals.  The  ram  that  persistently 
courts  the  ewe  may  after  a  time  so  divert  (by 
his  suggestion)  blood  to  her  reproductive  organs 
as  to  cause  her  to  come  in  heat  and  conceive  at 
a  time  when  naturally  these  organs  would  be  in 
a  dormant  condition. 

If  the  shepherd  does  not  care  to  risk  the  un- 
certain mental  influence  of  the  ram  he  may 
practice  holding  the  ewe  and  compelling  her  to 
accept  the  attention  of  the  ram  once.  This  of- 
ten supplies  stimulation  enough  to  cause  her  to 
come  naturally  in  heat  and  to  conceive  at  the 
later  service. 

Fall-born  lambs  in  America  have  developed 
into  as  fine  sheep  as  ever  were  produced  in 
England.  This  is  true  of  few  lambs  born  in 
spring,  no  matter  how  skillfully  they  have  been 
treated.  Fall-born  ram  lambs  make  fine 
strong  fellows  when  they  are  yearlings  and 
ready  to  go  into  service. 


CHAPTER  VII 


WASHING,  SHEARING  AND  MAEKING. 

The  washing  of  sheep  to  remove  the  surplus 
oil  in  the  wool  was  once  a  universal  practice. 
It  was  one  of  those  old  practices,  like  putting 
^'redding"  on  the  fleeces  to  make  the  sheep 
look  attractive  (?)  that  are  hard  to  account 
for.  The  washing  did  not  prepare  the  wool  for 
manufacture  nor  render  it  more  easily  scoured 
by  him.  It  did,  however,  render  it  lighter,  and 
therefore  the  buyers  found  washing  to  their  ad- 
vantage. 

At  the  present  time  few  sheep,  comparative- 
ly speaking,  are  washed  before  shearing.  It 
may,  however,  be  profitable  in  some  localities 
where  buyers  discriminate  sharply  against  un- 
washed wool  to  continue  to  put  the  sheep 
through  the  water  as  of  old. 

If  the  sheep  owner  can  find  a  buyer  who 
really  knows  his  business  and  buys  honestly, 
he  will  get  as  much  for  his  fleeces  unwashed  as 
washed,  and  can  therefore  save  himself  the  dis- 
agreeable task  and  the  flock  the  injury  that  such 
a  shock  is  bound  to  inflict. 

One  serious  disadvantage  of  washing  is  that 
it  can  not  be  done  safely  and  comfortably  until 
the  advent  of  warm  weather,  whereas  the  flock 

(191) 


192  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

should  be  shorn  much  before  that  time,  unless  it 
be  a  hill  flock  running  without  shelter. 

The  writer,  living  on  the  fortieth  parallel, 
usually  shears  his  ewe  flock  tlie  first  week  in 
April  and  sometimes  the  last  week  in  March. 

There  are  several  advantages  of  this  early 
shearing.  About  this  time  ewes  that  have  been 
well  fed  often  experience  a  little  loosening  of  the 
wool,  as  though  it  were  time  to  shed  it  off,  and 
locks  will  be  lost,  particularly  about  the  neck. 

Then  the  advent  of  warm  days  causes  a  feel- 
ing of  languor  and  the  sheep  do  not  eat  and 
thrive  as  has  .  been  their  wont.  And  again, 
there  are  many  showers  in  April  and  the  flock 
with  fleeces  on  literally  ''has  not  sense  enough 
to  come  in  out  of  the  rain"  and  the  fleeces  be- 
come drenched  and  heavy.  Then  they  keep 
their  lambs  out  in  the  rain,  whereas  if  they  were 
shorn  they  would  flee  to  their  sheds  as  soon  as 
the  first  drops  struck  them. 

Any  one  who  has  once  tried  this  early  shear- 
ing will  continue  it.  Should  the  flock  be  poorly 
fed,  however,  and  unsheltered,  the  fleeces  should 
be  left  on  until  the  middle  of  May. 

The  amount  of  wool  taken  off  in  a  period  of 
years  will  probably  be  nearly  the  same  whether 
shorn  in  April,  May  or  June,  with  the  probabil- 
ity that  the  early-shorn  sheep  through  their 
greater  vigor  and  healthfulness  may  shear  the 
most. 

For  washing  sheep  a  considerable  body  of 
water  is  required.  It  is  usual  to  take  advan- 
tage of  a  creek  or  natural  pool.  The  sheep 
are  immersed,   the  wool   squeezed  a   little  be- 


WASHING,    SHEARING   AND   MARKING.         193 

tween  the  hands  and  they  are  permitted  to  go 
out  and  drain  themselves  on  the  bank.  No 
soap  is  usedj  as  the  oil  of  the  wool  is  itself  read- 
ily dissolved  in  water,  and  it  is  this  oil  only  that 
is  sought  to  be  removed.  It  is  usual  to  allow 
ten  days  or  two  weeks  to  elapse  after  washing 
before  the  sheep  are  shorn ;  and,  in  fact,  it  is  not 
easy  to  shear  them  as  soon  as  they  are  dry  ow- 
ing to  a  diflicutly  in  penetrating  the  wool  with 
the  shears  until  more  oil  has  been  secreted  in 
the  wool. 

WASHING   AND   SHEARING. 

The  dipping  tank  can  be  used  for  washing 
sheep,  but  not  unless  there  can  in  some  way  be 
secured  a  continuous  stream  of  water  to  flow 
through  it.  The  sheep  should  not  drain  back 
into  the  tank  in  case  it  is  used.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  this  custom  of  washing  will  soon  be 
one  of  ancient  history  wherever  sheep  are 
grown. 

Some  sheep  owners  have  their  fleeces  tub- 
washed  after  being  taken  from  the  sheep 's  back. 
This  is  not  difficult  to  do,  only  that  the  drying 
is  slow  and  it  ought  not  to  be  necessary. 

SHEARING. 

The  shearing  of  sheep  is  an  art  not  to  be  im- 
mediately learned  by  the  novice.  It  requires 
several  seasons'  practice  to  make  an  expert 
shearer  of  a  man.  There  is,  unfortunately,  a 
scarcity  of  good  shearers  in  all  our  Eastern 
states.  It  is  a  trade  that  any  vigorous  young 
man  may  learn  with  sure  expectation  of  making 
good  wages  for  some  weeks  each  season.     A 


194  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

good  shearer  will  shear  from  45  to  100  sheep  in 
a  day,  using  common  hand  shears.  He  will  get 
for  his  service  from  4  to  10  cents  each,  perliaps 
6  cents  being  the  average  price. 

The  shearing  place  should  be  in  some  light, 
airy  part  of  the  barn.  A  clean  platform  on 
which  to  work  is  necessary.  If  nothing  else  is 
available,  since  sheep  barns  have  usually  the 
natural  earth  for  floor,  a  spare  barn  door  may 
be  taken  from  its  hangings  and  laid  down  for 
temporary  use.  A  small  pen  close  by  holds 
enough  sheep  in  readiness  to  keep  the  shearer 
busy  for  some  hours. 

In  back  regions  it  is  customary  to  tie  the  legs 
of  the  sheep,  place  it  on  a  low  platform  or  box 
and  set  two  men,  or  one  man  and  a  boy  at  work 
cutting  off  the  fleece.  This  is  a  childish  and 
unskilled  method  that  should  not  be  imitated. 

The  sheep  is  a  peculiar  animal,  directly  sen- 
sitive to  touch.  Tie  the  legs,  or  even  touch 
them,  it  responds  by  struggling  to  be  free. 
Turn  it  so  that  it  can  not  get  its  feet  to  the 
ground  and  its  struggles  cease,  as  though  it 
knew  the  hopelessness  of  struggling. 

Following  this  thought,  if  one  attempts  to 
hold  a  horned  sheep  by  the  horns  it  continues  to 
struggle  and  can  not  seem  to  understand  why  it 
is  not  free.  It  can  not  feel  the  press  of  the  hand 
upon  the  horn.  Hold  the  same  sheep  by  a  touch 
under  the  chin  and  if  it  has  had  a  trifle  of  train- 
ing it,  feeling  your  hand,  yields  and  stands 
dutifully. 

The  shearer  then,  without  tying  the  feet, 
turns  the  sheep  upon  its  rump,  with  its  head 


WASHING,    SHEARING   AND   MARKING.         195 

and  shoulders  resting  against  him,  supported 
by  the  left  arm  and  with  the  shears  in  the  right 
hand  ojjens  the  wool,  usually  on  the  right  shoul- 
der, and  proceeds  to  clip  it  away,  keeping  it  as 
much  as  possible  in  one  piece.  That  is,  he 
strips  it  away  easily  and  gently  as  he  would  re- 
move a  coat.  It  is  essential  that  he  so  bend  the 
sheep's  body  that  the  skin  will  be  at  all  times 
tight.  If  this  is  done  it  is  easy  to  cut  the  wool 
closely  and  there  is  little  danger  of  cutting  the 
skin. 

When  the  wool  is  removed  all  very  dirty 
pieces  should  be  separated  from  it  and  never 
tied  up  with  the  fleece.  There  is  need  of  hon- 
esty in  tying  wool  and  nothing  but  wool  should 
go  inside  a  fleece.  The  fleece  is  rolled  with  the 
belly  and  loose  ends  inside,  the  cut  fibers  out. 
It  is  tied,  not  too  tightly,  with  special  wool  twine 
wrajDped  twice  or  at  most  three  times  around. 

The  use  of  binder  twine  or  any  but  special 
wool  twine  greatly  injures  the  wool,  as  the 
small  bits  of  fiber  get  in  it  and  not  taking  dyes 
must  be  picked  out  by  hand.  This  occasions  a 
loss  of  sometimes  as  much  as  5  cents  per  pound 
which  must  eventually  come  from  the  producer, 
since  manufacturers  learn  what  sort  of  stuff  is 
to  be  expected  from  some  regions  and  bid  for  it 
accordingly. 

There  is  no  need  of  a  box  or  wool  table  for 
tying  a  very  compact  bundle  since  buyers  pre- 
fer the  ordinary,  rather  loosely  tied  fleeces. 

SHEARING     MACHINES. 

The  use  of  machines  has  now  become  quite 


196 


SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 


common  in  shearing  sheep  and  they  are  suf- 
ficiently well  perfected  so  that  they  do  their 
work  with  little  trouble  from  breakage.  It  is 
far  easier  to  learn  to  shear  sheep  with  machine 
than  by  hand,  though  old  shearers  prefer  the 
hand  shears  and  can  shear  as  many  sheep  in  the 


HAND-SHEARING  MACHINE. 

old-fashioned  way  as  with  the  machine.  Not  so, 
however,  with  the  novice ;  he  will  shear  twice  as 
many  with  the  machine  as  he  will  with  hand 
shears. 

Then  the  work  is  far  better  done  with  the  ma- 
chine.    There  are  no  cuts  from  shears  and  the 


WASHING,    SHEARING  AND  MARKING.         197 

fleeces  are  taken  off  closely  and  evenly.  There 
need  be  made  no  second  cuts,  which  cause  short 
fibers,  little  better  than  shoddy. 

The  machine  shears  in  careful  hands  will  cut 
in  two  every  tick  and  leave  the  sheep  clean  of 
that  vermin. 

Against  its  use  is  the  cost  of  the  machine, 
about  $15.00  for  a  hand  machine,  and  the  cost 
of  repairs.  If  well  oiled  and  cared  for,  how- 
ever, it  will  last  for  many  seasons  with  occa- 
sional renewal  of  cutting  parts. 

Then  there  is  needed  a  boy  to  turn  the  crank, 
so  that  its  use  requires  two  persons  to  shear  a 
sheep.  As  the  boy  is  unskilled  and  may  usu- 
ally be  had  for  a  small  sum  this  is  not  import- 
ant. Altogether  the  writer  advises  the  man 
who  has  not  available  skilled  shearers  of  the 
old-fashioned  type  and  does  the  shearing  him- 
self to  use  the  machine.  If  he  must  hire  shear- 
ers he  had  better  let  them  furnish  their  own 
tools. 

There  are  power  machines  for  large  plants. 
These  are  operated  very  successfully  by  gaso- 
line engines  and  there  are  small  power  ma- 
chines with  two  or  more  sets  of  shears.  These 
are  entirely  practical  but  it  is  not  usually  profit- 
able to  install  a  power  plant  for  fewer  than 
1,000  sheep. 

AVhen  sheep  are  to  go  to  market  after  being 
shorn  the  machine  is  a  saving  since  it  takes  off 
more  wool  than  hand  shears  can.  The  saving 
is  from  2  to  8  ounces.  A  saving  of  4  ounces,  or 
1/4  pound,  would  pay  the  cost  of  shearing.  All 
sorts  of  sheep  are  shorn  by  machines,  though 


198  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

they  work  especially  well  on  Downs,  Long- 
Wools  and  Dorsets.  They  are  difficult  to  oper- 
ate on  Western  lambs  that  have  been  dipped 
and  placed  on  feed  in  winter,  owing  to  the  pe- 
culiar condition  of  the  wool  which  seems  to  be 
affected  by  the  shock  of  transportation  and  dip- 
ping and  to  be  dead  at  that  point  and  conse- 
quently hard  to  get  shears  into.  . 

A  fat  sheep  nicely  shorn  with  the  machine 
shears  is  a  very  attractive  object  and  appears 
fatter  than  when  shorn  by  hand. 

The  shearing  machine  should  not  be  used  in 
midsummer,  or  if  it  is  it  should  not  be  set  to 
run  very  close  else  there  will  not  be  enough 
wool  left  on  to  protect  the  sheep  from  flies  and 
sunburn  and  it  will  suffer  severely  before  the 
wool  has  grown  out  again. 

It  is  in  some  situations  a  good  plan  to  shear 
a  flock  of  ewes  twice  a  year,  once  very  early, 
say  in  late  March,  and  again  in  August.^  The 
wool  will  not  be  quite  so  valuable,  for  it  will 
be  shorter,  but  the  relief  to  the  sheep  in  get- 
ting rid  of  its  warm  coat  at  this  sultry  time  is 
remarkable  and  it  will  thrive  far  better  than 
unshorn,  lambing  stronger  if  it  is  to  drop  fall 
or  early  winter  lambs  and  conceiving  earlier  if 
it  is  not  yet  bred.  The  writer  has  practiced 
this  and  has  not  had  to  take  more  than  one  cent 
per  pound  less  for  his  short  wool,  which  loss  is 
not  worth  mentioning  when  the  advantage  to 
the  flock  is  considered. 

It  is  a  custom  of  some  shepherds  and  feeders 
to  shear  sheep  and  lambs  before  placing  them 
on  feed  in  the  fall  and  early  winter. 


WASHING,    SHEARING  AND  MARKING.         201 

There  is  little  advantage  in  this.  It  forces 
and  crowds  them  close  together  and  they  do  not 
gain  any  better. 

The  one  advantage  is  that  it  is  easier  to  free 
them  from  ticks  after  they  are  shorn  and  if  they 
are  dipped  less  fluid  is  required. 

MAKKING. 

When  sheep  go  to  pasture  it  is  well  to  have 
a  mark  upon  them  so  that  in  case  they  acci- 
dentally become  mixed  with  other  sheep  they 
may  be  known. 

A  large  letter  made  of  wood,  with  a  handle 
to  it,  is  used,  some  thick  paint  serving  for  ink. 
Linseed  oil  and  lampblack  make  a  durable  mark, 
plainly  seen. 

Permanent  marking  is  done  by  splitting,  crop- 
ping or  notching  the  ears.  This  is  the  univer- 
sal custom  on  Western  ranges,  but  such  dis- 
figurement is  seldom  practiced  in  the  Eastern 
states.  There  are  metal  labels  that  are  in- 
serted in  the  ears ;  these  bear  the  name  of  the 
owners,  or  numbers,  or  the  numbers  assigned  to 
registered  sheep  by  the  breed  secretaries. 

There  are  various  forms  of  these  metal  ear 
tags.  None  of  them  is  absolutely  sure  to  remain 
in  the  ear.  The  difficulty  is  that  the  ears  be- 
come sore  and  pus  formation  eats  away  so  much 
of  the  tissue  that  the  labels  drop  out  or  they 
are  caught  and  torn  out  by  some  branch  or  nail. 
They  may  remain  in  place  for  years  and  the7y' 
may  become  lost  in  a  short  time.  There  is  a 
right  and  a  wrong  way  to  put  these  metal  tags 
in. 


202  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

The  right  way  is  to  use  a  punch,  cutting  out 
an  oval  bit  of  the  ear  tissue  and  to  make  the 
hole  some  days  before  the  label  is  inserted,  giv- 
ing the  ear  time  to  heal  in  the  meantime. 

Then  the  hole  must  be  so  carefully  gauged 
that  the  label  will  not  compress  the  ear,  yet  will 
fit  snugly  and  present  little  of  projection  to 
catch  and  cause  it  to  be  torn  out.  If  this  course 
is  taken  most  of  the  labels  will  remain  in  place. 

THE  TATTOO  MAKK. 

The  best  method  of  permanently  marking  a 
sheep  is  by  the  tattoo  mark.  This  is  especially 
applicable  to  sheep  with  light-colored  ears, 
though  it  is  used  on  some  of  the  Down  breeds. 

The  tattoo  properly  put  in  is  absolutely  per- 
manent It  does  not  annoy  the  sheep  and  once 
put  in  is  a  sure  record  as  long  as  the  animal 
lives. 

There  are  sets  of  tattooing  instruments  sold 
by  dealers  in  shepherds'  supplies.  These  con- 
sist of  a  frame  with  handles  like  pinchers  in 
which  are  set  removable  letters  and  numbers. 
These  letters  and  numbers  have  a  great  num- 
ber of  sharp  points,  forming  the  characters, 
and  the  handles  when  closed  cause  these  points 
to  prick  the  required  characters. 

India  ink  is  the  pigment  used  and  when 
pressed  into  these  minute  wounds  remains 
there,  leaving  an  indelible  black  tracing.  There 
is  danger  of  the  careless  or  inexperienced  oper- 
ator making  failure  with  this  tattooing  outfit, 
for  certain  things  are  essential.  The  levers 
must  be  so  adjusted  that  when  closed  the  points 


WASHING,    SHEARING  AND   MARKING.         203 

will  prick  evenly  the  required  characters  in  a 
thick  sheet  of  paper  or  cardboard.  If  any  do 
not  make  their  mark  the  instrument  is  out  of 
adjustment  or  the  letters  worn  out.  These 
points  rust  if  not  kept  oiled  when  not  in  usee 

Then  in  placing  in  the  letters  or  figures  one 
must  be  sure  that  he  has  them  in  right.  They  are 
like  type,  reversed,  so  that  it  is  puzzling  at  first 
to  the  operator  to  use  them  and  it  is  well  to  test 
them  on  a  bit  of  cardboard  before  using  them 
on  the  sheep.  After  once  the  mark  is  in  the  ear 
there  is  no  erasing  it. 

Then  there  should  be  used  a  great  abundance 
of  the  india  ink,  smearing  as  much  on  the  points 
as  possible  and  afterward  rubbing  more  in  the 
ear  with  the  finger.  If  once  the  pricks  are  made 
in  the  ear  and  the  ink  rubbed  in  them  the  deed 
is  done  and  will  endure. 

In  England  there  are  men  who  make  a  busi- 
ness of  marking  sheep  with  the  tattoo  mark. 
It  is  the  official  marking  of  a  number  of  breeds 
and  the  Secretary  often  attends  in  person  to  the 
marking.  It  is  the  most  desirable  mark  for 
any  pure-bred  sheep  that  is  to  be  retained  as  a 
breeder,  though  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  use 
this  mark  on  stock  sheep  that  are  soon  to  be  fat- 
tened. It  may,  however,  save  much  dispute  if 
all  stock  ewes  have  their  owner's  mark,  seeing 
that  they  may  become  mixed  on  pasture. 

MARKING  PURE-BRED  LAMBS.  \" 

When  lambs  that  are  pure-bred  are  to  be 
registered  it  is  essential  that  the  shepherd  so 
mark  them  at  an  early  age  as  to  identify  them 


204  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

later  according  to  their  parentage.  This  is  by 
no  means  an  easy  task.  A  very  small  lamb 
can  not  safely  carry  a  mark  in  its  ear  and  there 
is  a  little  trouble  later  on  in  discovering  which 
ewes  are  the  mothers  of  the  lambs. 

The  writer  has  found  a  good  plan  to  be  to 
let  them  run  until  they  are  well  grown,  but 
still  sucking,  then  separate  them  from  their 
mothers  some  morning  and  keep  them  apart 
until  they  are  eager  for  association  with  their 
dams.  Then  the  lambs  may  be  caught  one  at 
a  time,  and  in  one  ear  a  tattoo  number  be  put. 
This  should  be  in  the  opposite  ear  from  where 
the  permanent  number  is  to  go.  These  num- 
bers may  begin  each  year  at  No.  1,  running  up 
as  high  as  necessary. 

Having  put  the  number  in  the  lamb's  ear  and 
entered  it  in  a  note  book  it  is  placed  with  the 
ewes,  where  it  soon  singles  out  its  mother  and 
while  sucking  she  is  caught  and  her  number 
noted  and  entered  opposite  that  of  the  lamb.  A 
name  may  be  given  the  lamb  at  the  same  time, 
though  individual  names  except  for  exception- 
ally good  lambs  are  hardly  worth  while.  It  is 
easier  and  as  well  to  designate  them  simply  by 
numbers,  identifying  them  with  the  name  of  the 
breeders  or  the  farm,  as  ''Jones'  99"  or 
^'Woodland  174." 

Of  course  these  permanent  numbers  must  be 
consecutive  from  year  to  year  else  the  Secre- 
tary would  find  duplicates  in  his  records. 

After  the  lambs  have  been  weaned  and  are 
sufficiently  developed  to  indicate  which  are 
worth  permanent  record  their  records  are  sent 


WASHING,    SHEARING   AND   MARKING.         205 

to  the  breed  Secretary  and  he  records  them  and 
sends  with  their  certificates  the  Association 
number,  which  must  be  placed  in  the  ear  left 
blank  for  that  purpose. 

Care  must  be  taken  not  to  make  confusion  by 
using  occasionally  the  wrong  ear,  and  it  is  well 
to  use  numbers  of  different  size  for  this  first 
marking.  If  they  are  a  trifle  larger  than  the 
permanent  numbers  it  is  well,  seeing  that  the 
ear  will  grow,  and  if  they  were  made  a  little 
smaller  they  would  in  time  become  of  the  same 
size  as  the  ones  later  put  in. 

The  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  shepherds 
are  usually  very  careless  in  assigning  mothers 
to  lambs  for  record  and  guess  more  than  they 
should. 

The  English  system  is  to  record  the  individ- 
ual rams  and  the  ewes  by  flocks  only.  Seeing 
that  they  have  achieved  glorious  results  in  the 
development  of  breeds  by  their  course  it  would 
seem  presumptions  for  the  American  breeders 
to  claim  superiority  of  method.  The  writer 
unhesitatingly  declares  that  the  English  sys- 
tem should  be  adopted  on  this  side  of  the  water 
and  sees  but  one  objection  to  it,  that,  perhaps, 
a  fatal  one,  that  in  recording  by  flocks  men  are 
not  compelled  to  pay  much  for  the  support  of 
the  breed  association.  In  England  this  is  done 
largely  by  subscription  and  liberal  annual  dues : 
here  by  charging  50c  each  for  recording  indi- 
vidual sheep.  The  English  system  would  re- 
lieve the  secretaries  of  a  vast  amount  of  drudg- 
ery that  seems  to  have  accomplished  very  in- 
significant results. 


CHAPTER   Vlll. 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  THE  WESTERN 
STATES. 

NEW  MEXICO. 

The  management  of  flocks  upon  the  great 
ranges  of  the  West  varies  considerably  accord- 
ing to  the  climate  and  topography  of  the 
country  and  according  to  the  character  of  the 
men  engaged  in  the  industry.  Probably  the 
oldest  sheep  industry  in  the  United  States  was 
founded  in  New  Mexico  by  the  early  Mexican 
colonists  of  Spanish  and  Indian  origin.  There 
are  in  New  Mexico  vast  plains  ranging  from 
4,000  to  8,000  feet  in  altitude,  interspersed  with 
mountains  and  canyons.  These  plains  are  gen- 
erally covered  with  a  rather  thick,  short  grass 
of  considerable  nutritive  value.  The  climate  is 
dry  and  moderately  cool,   especially  at  night. 

The  days  are  almost  uniformly  sunny  and 
warm. 

The  native  Mexican  sheep  found  there  in  its 
purity  is  becoming  more  and  more  uncommon, 
owing  to  the  steady  introduction  of  Merino 
blood.  There  has  also  been  introduced  here 
more  or  less  blood  from  the  English  breeds  but 
as  a  rule  the  Merino  has  been  found  to  cross 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.    207 

better  and  to  withstand  the  conditions  better 
than  the  mutton  breeds. 

Management  on  most  of  these  Mexican 
ranches  is  extremely  simple.  Native  Mexican 
sheep  owners  often  use  corrals  (small  yards 
built  of  cedar  or  pinon  posts  set  close  in  the 
ground)  in  which  the  flocks  (called  ''herds" 
throughout  the  West)  are  confined  at  night. 
This  secures  them  from  loss  from  coyotes  or 
mountain  lions.  The  corralling  is  however,  a 
serious  injury  to  the  sheep  since  they  must 
travel  some  distance  to  and  from  the  enclosure 
and  what  is  worse  must  await  the  pleasure  of 
the  herder  before  they  can  go  forth  to  graze 
in  the  morning. 

CHARACTER   OF   MEXICAN    SHEEP. 

The  native  Mexican  sheep  is  indeed  a  ''sorry" 
animal,  having  few  characteristics  that  we  are 
wont  to  associate  with  good  form  or  character. 
It  has  a  thin  neck  and  feeble  look,  a  curving 
back,  round,  contracted  belly,  thin  legs  and 
rather  woe-begone  countenance.  The  wool  is 
coarse  and  scanty,  the  bellies  and  legs  being 
often  bare.  And  yet  the  Mexican  sheep  is  not 
without  its  peculiar  virtues. 

It  is  fairly  prolific  and  the  lambs  are  hardy. 
It  is  a  great  traveler  and  can  subsist  upon 
scanty  and  dry  forage.  When  worst  comes  to 
worst  and  in  the  lower  country  along  the  Rio 
Grande,  far  down  in  Texas  and  across  the  river 
in  old  Mexico  rain  does  not  fall  and  all  herbage 
is  dried  up  and  turned  to  dust,  the  humble 
Mexican  still  subsists  upon  the  tender  ends  of 


208 


SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 


twigs,  uj)on  oactus  joints,  upon  the  withered 
grass  growing  between  the  cactus  bunches  and 
upon  dry  weeds  that  have  blown  by  the  wind 
across  the  plains.  They  may  become  very  much 
emaciated  but  seldom  perish.  The  Mexican 
ewe  when  mated  with  a  good  Merino  ram  pro- 


n 

■K.^^MIV 

ik^^fe 

^^^ 

ll 

^•1 

^^^ 

s^fc 

^M 

■■■j 

rl'^^^HH^B 

1 

^^^^^Sfi^fl 

1 

YEARLING   OXFORD   RAM 


duces  an  offspring  far  superior  to  herself  and 
with  a  second  cross  upon  this  foundation  very 
serviceable  flocks  are  established.  Indeed  a  very 
great  number  of  flocks  throughout  New  Mexico, 
Colorado,  Arizona,  Utah  and  California  have 
been  bred  up  from  a  Mexican  basis. 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     209 

After  the  infusion  of  Merino  blood  the  use  of 
some  of  the  mutton  breeds  produces  an  admir- 
able lamb,  sprightly,  a  good  feeder,  healthy  and 
rugged.  There  will  occur,  however,  a  good 
many  cases  of  reversion  to  type,  when  the  Mexi- 
can character  will  crop  out,  modified,  but  not 
destroyed  by  the  foreign  bloods. 

THE  '^GOOD  OLD  TIMES  ^^  IN  NEW  MEXICO. 

Under  the  old  fashioned  regime  in  New  Mex- 
ico not  much  improvement  of  the  herds  was  pos- 
sible. There  was  no  provision  for  winter  feed- 
ing and  there  often  occurred  a  somewhat  long 
period  of  semi-starvation.  Water  was  not 
readily  accessible  and  often  of  execrable  qual- 
ity, being  supplied  by  shallow  pools  or  lakes  that 
became  incredibly  foul  and  dangerous  to  drink 
from.  There  is  now  a  considerable  number  of 
men  engaged  in  sheep  growing  under  better 
conditions.  Near  the  irrigable  valleys  vast 
amounts  of  alfalfa  are  grown  and  winter  feed- 
ing is  practiced  to  some  extent.  Better  rams 
are  used  than  formerly,  the  Rambouillet  having 
been  used  to  a  considerable  extent,  together 
with  Delaines  and  other  Merinos.  In  some  places 
Shropshire  and  even  Cotswold  blood  has  been 
introduced.  Native  Mexican  sheep  owners 
have  in  many  instances  given  way  to  American 
owners  and  in  other  instances  have  themselves 
learned  better  methods.  A  peculiar  industry 
of  this  region,  especially  down  along  the  Pecos 
river  is  the  lambing  of  ewes  in  the  alfalfa  fields 
in  March  or  earlier,  and  growing  the  lambs  rap- 


210  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

idly   with  grain   and  green   alfalfa   for   early 
marketing  in  May  and  June. 

MODERN    MANAGEMENT. 

A  herd  may  contain  from  500  to  3,000  sheep. 
Perhaps  2,000  would  be  considered  a  good  sized 
but  workable  herd  in  New  Mexico.  At  lambing 
time  the  ewe  band  is  divided,  not  more  than 
1,000  being  together.  Good  shepherds  seldom 
use  the  corral  at  night,  since  its  use  is  almost 
certain  to  bring  a  steady  deterioration  in  a 
good  flock  and  prevent  the  improvement  of  a 
bad  one.  Instead  of  the  corral  the  sheep  are 
driven  at  evening  time  near  to  the  tent  of  the 
herder  and  watched  for  a  little  time  when  they 
finally  lie  down  in  a  compact  body.  They  are 
then  said  to  be  ''bedded  down"  and  will  remain 
there  quietly  until  morning  unless  the  moon 
happens  to  be  very  bright,  or  something  occurs 
to  frighten  them. 

It  is  usual  to  have  bells  upon  a  number  of  the 
sheep.  The  herder  in  his  tent  close  at  hand 
hears  the  jingle  of  the  bells  if  the  sheep  start  to 
move  off  and  goes  around  them  or  sends  his  dog. 
Soon  the  habit  is  formed  with  great  fixity  of 
'' bedding  down"  regularly  close  to  their  herder 
and  they  do  not  often  try  to  stray  without 
serious  provocation 

Very  early  in  the  morning  the  herd  awakens 
and  unless  there  is  a  storm  threatening,  of 
which  they  have  instinctive  fore  knowledge, 
the}^  will  go  out  to  graze.  The  shepherd,  or 
*^ sheep  herder"  as  he  is  often  called,  directs 
them  to  the  one  wav  or  the  other  according  to 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     213 

the  conditions  of  the  range,  and  swallowing  his 
rather  hastily  prepared  breakfast  sets  out  after 
them  to  see  that  they  do  not  scatter  too  wide 
or  go  too  far.  At  noon  he  may  return  to  his 
tent  and  prepare  his  midday  meal  and  perhaps 
the  flock  will  lie  quiescent  for  some  hours  if 
feed  is  fairly  abundant  and  there  is  shade  of 
trees  or  rocks. 

As  evening  approaches  he  gathers  them  to- 
gether and  follows  them  to  tlieir  bed  ground 
again  and  thus  has  closed  the  labor  of  the  day. 
The  work  is  not  usually  laborious  but  it  calls 
for  faithfulness  and  considerable  patience  and 
to  be  a  really  first-class  ''sheep  herder"  re- 
quires a  deep  insight  into  the  ways  of  sheep  and 
of  all  wild  Nature  as  well. 

DISEASES  OF  THE  EANGE. ' 

SheeiD  in  this  region  are  healthy  except  for 
two  principal  troubles;  scab,  which  was  once 
almost  universal,  and  stomach  worms  or  ''lom- 
briz"  which  are  occasionally  destructive  to 
lambs.  Scab  is  very  difficult  to  eradicate  on 
ranches  where  corrals  are  used  continuously 
and  where  flocks  stray  about  and  cross  each 
other's  paths  and  especially  if  they  alternately 
use  certain  corrals.  Of  recent  years,  however, 
many  herds  have  been  made  completely  clean 
of  scab  and  there  is  hope  that  all  may  be  rid 
of  it  in  the  near  future. 

That  scab  is  not  a  necessary  adjunct  of  range 
sheep  the  writer  has  amply  proved,  having 
completely  eradicated  it  from  his  own  herds 
when  engaged  in  ranching  in  Utah. 


214  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

Stomach  worms,  (Strongyius  contortus)  in- 
fect flocks  that  drink  from  shallow  pools  where 
to  avoid  the  tilth  the  sheep  and  lambs  wade 
out  till  the  water  comes  to  their  bellies,  deposit- 
ing there  more  germs  of  whatever  parasite  they 
may  harbor.  There  would  be  no  stomach 
worms  in  these  regions  if  sheep  watered  at 
clean  drinking  places,  or  at  least  the  number 
would  be  greatly  restricted. 

MEXICAN  LAMBS  AS  FEEDERS. 

Mexican  lambs  have  been  favorites  among 
Colorado  feeders  ever  since  they  commenced 
their  feeding  operations  in  that  region.  They 
have  found  their  death  losses  comparatively 
low  from  the  Mexican  lambs  and  that  with  a 
given  amount  of  feed  they  make  good  gains. 
When  fat  they  sell  well  because  they  dress  well, 
and  their  small,  light  carcasses  are  in  favor 
with  local  retailers  of  mutton.  They  are  doubt- 
less often  palmed  off  on  Eastern  buyers  as 
"spring  lambs."  Brought  to  Ohio  the  writer 
did  not  find  them  as  profitable  feeders  as  lambs 
from  Utah,  Wyoming  or  Montana,  making  much 
smaller  gains  and  shearing  very  light  fleeces. 

Some  of  these  Mexican  ewe  lambs  (having 
one  cross  of  Merino  blood)  were  kept  on  an 
Ohio  farm  and  bred  to  lamb.  They  did  not  by 
their  performance  indicate  that  they  were  de- 
sirable stock  for  Eastern  conditions.  The 
writer  thinks  the  sooner  the  half  wild  "Mexi- 
can" blood  is  bred  out  of  these  sheep  the  bet- 
ter save  for  very  hard  conditions  of  drouth  and 
thinly-grassed  ranges. 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     215 
THE  WANDERING  HEEDS. 

In  Utah,  Nevada  and  parts  of  Colorado  and 
in  Idaho  (with  also  a  part  of  Arizona  and  Cali- 
fornia) a  peculiar  system  of  sheep  ranching 
prevails.  It  might  be  called  the  nomadic,  or 
trailing  system,  for  the  herds  spend  their  smu- 
mers  on  the  high  mountain  pastures,  their 
springs  and  falls  in  intermediate  regions  and 
their  winters  in  the  low-lying  parts,  on  the 
deserts  and  foothills.  Some  of  the  better  cared- 
for  flocks  are  fed  during  part  of  the  winter  or 
spring  on  alfalfa  or  other  hay  grown  in  the 
valleys. 

These  trailing  bands  of  sheep  are  in  charge 
of  herders  each  having  in  his  care  from  2,000 
to  3,000  except  during  lambing  time,  when  he  is 
given  a  smaller  number  and  very  often  has 
help  in  addition.  We  may  start  with  them  in 
spring,  when  their  journey  begins  from  the 
desert  toward  the  mountains.  All  winter  they 
have  lived  on  desert  herbage  and  brush  and 
snow  has  been  largely  their  reliance  for  drink. 
When  that  is  melted  and  the  water  holes  are 
dried  up  the  sheep  must  come  out  of  the  desert 
and  head  toward  their  mountain  ranges.  Very 
often  these  ranges  are  a  hundred  miles  away 
and  in  rarer  instances  they  are  much  more  dis- 
tant. The  herder  moves  the  band  each  day  by 
slow  stages  towards  their  destination,  taking 
care  to  visit  each  promising  spot  along  the  way 
where  perchance  food  may  be  found.  This  for- 
age may  be  of  green  grass  quick  grown  from 
the  melting  snows  and  genial  sun,  which  even 


216  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

in  March  shows  a  fervor  unknown  in  Eastern 
lands,  or  it  may  be  the  young  shoots  of  rabbit 
brush,  willows  and  sage  with  an  admixture  of 
weeds. 

The  herder  usually  has  a  wagon  equipped 
with  a  canvas  cover,  stove  and  commissary.  In 
this,  his  home,  he  is  established  and  with  it  he 
journeys  in  a  desultory  fashion,  searching  right 
and  left  for  subsistence  for  his  flock.  Tliere  is 
a  steadily  intensifying  spirit  of  opposition  to 
the  nomadic  sheep  men  on  the  part  of  local  set- 
tlers along  streams  and  in  the  valleys  of  these 
mountain  states,  since  the  herds  eat  the  grass 
that  would  naturally  belong  to  settlers'  horses 
and  cows,  and  because  they  sometimes  pollute 
streams  that  must  serve  as  drinking  water  for 
the  settlers  and  their  animals. 

WAITING  FOR  GEASS  TO  COME. 

The  herder  can  not  hasten  toward  his  cov- 
eted destination,  for  when  by  drouth  he  is  driven 
from  the  desert  the  snow  is  yet  covering  his 
summer  range,  hence  there  may  be  a  trying 
peiiod  of  journeying  with  occasionally  very 
short  feed.  In  fact  journeying  flocks  not  un- 
frequently  camp  on  each  other's  bed  grounds, 
one  after  the  other  in  succession  sometimes  to 
the  number  of  half  a  dozen.  The  last  comers 
find  little  to  eat  save  the  roots  of  the  grass. 

This  habit  of  roving  prevents  the  sheep  men 
from  having  any  very  great  regard  for  the 
preservation  of  the  range  and  makes  it  difficult 
for  them  to  preserve  it  even  should  they  desire 
so  to  do.  In  truth  there  are  regions  where 
nomadic  sheep  have  changed  a  once  well  grassed 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.    217 

country  into  one  almost  bare  of  grass  and  con- 
taining no  forage  other  than  comparatively 
worthless  brush  and  weeds. 

Lambing  is  usually  delayed  until  the  flocks 
are  established  upon  their  summer  range,  since 
it  is  difficult  to  move  ewes  with  young  lambs 
without  great  loss.  It  is  a  happy  moment  when 
after  very  great  trials  and  toil  the  flock  reaches 


BLACK-FACED  SHEEP  IN  THE  HILLS. 

the  high  mountain  pastures,  the  snow  is  found 
to  be  gone  and  green  grass  abounds.  Then 
there  is  long  rest  before  distant  journeying 
must  begin  again.  The  moves  are  of  only  a  few 
miles  each  and  camps  may  remain  for  days  and 
sometimes  for  weeks  without  being  moved.  The 
weather  upon  these  green  mountain  pastures 
is  stimulating  and  delicious;  there  are  lovely 
groves  of  aspens  and  cool  pine  woods  intersper- 


218  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA.     ' 

sed  with  flower-decked  grassy  glades.  The 
lambs  are  born  here  and  start  into  vigorous  life 
and  growth,  far  exceeding  that  of  lambs  born 
on  lower  altitudes  on  the  plains  of  New  Mexico. 
From  some  of  these  mountain  ranges  come 
the  best  and  fattest  lambs  that  reach  the  mar- 
kets of  Omaha,  Kansas  City  and  Chicago,  be- 
ginning in  August  and  continuing  until  cold 
weather.  Idaho  especially  and  Utah  are  noted 
for  their  fine  lambs. 

THE  BLOOD   OF  THE   HERDS. 

The  basis  of  the  flocks  of  this  region  is  Merino 
but  there  has  been  added  a  great  deal  of  mutton 
blood,  where  the  ability  of  the  range  to  produce 
fine  lambs  has  been  recognized.  The  Cotswold 
has  worked  great  changes  in  Utah  and  some  ad- 
jacent territory.  Shr  op  shires  have  been  used 
in  many  places.  Hampshires  have  been  intro- 
duced also  and  upon  good  ranges  and  in  the 
hands  of  generous  men,  able  to  give  good  care 
and  liberal  feeding,  they  have  proved  worthy. 

THE  DIVISION  OF  THE  RANGES. 

There  is  at  present  a  general  move  upon  the 
part  of  sheep  owners  in  these  mountain  regions 
to  get  in  some  way  possession  of  parts  of  their 
ranges.  They  seek  ownership  of  the  summer 
range,  or  of  parts  of  the  fall  and  spring  ranges, 
and  are  establishing  farms  where  forage  may 
be  cut  and  stored  for  winter  use.  There  is  a 
large  body  of  good  citizens  engaged  in  the  sheep 
industry  in  these  regions  and  also  unfortu- 
nately some  of  the  most  selfish  and  degraded 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WP^STERN  STATES.     219 

of  men.  A  nomadic  sheep  herd  under  the 
management  of  an  ignorant,  lawless  and  irres- 
ponsible man  is  a  curse  to  any  land  over  which 
it  travels.  It  sheds  off  scab  germs  to  infect 
other  herds  so  unfortunate  as  to  follow  in  its 
trail,  it  pollutes  streams,  devastates  young  for- 
ests and  destroys  the  range  by  over  pasturing. 
It  will  indeed  be  a  happy  day  for  all  this  region 
when  the  land  is  divided  up  owned  or  leased  by 
the  cattle  and  sheep  owners  and  the  era  of  de- 
struction of  that  beautiful  region  ends  and  re- 
construction begins  again.  It  is  a  short-siglited 
policy  of  our  National  Government  that  per- 
mits ranges  to  be  devastated  and  refuses  leases 
that  would  tend  to  preserve  them  and  thus  en- 
rich all  the  community. 

MONTANA^  WYOMING  AND  THE  DAKOTAS. 

These  regions  possess  a  distinct  character 
and  have  a  type  of  sheep  husbandry  of  their 
own.  They  are  characterized  by  very  wide, 
well  grassed  plateaus  or  plains,  somewhat  desti- 
tute of  trees  or  brush  and  sometimes  devoid  of 
hills,  canyons  or  natural  shelter.  The  climate 
is  much  milder  than  it  would  be  in  a  similar  lati- 
tude in  the  Eastern  states  and  while  very  low 
temperatures  are  often  reached  in  winter,  some 
times  with  occasional  blizzards,  yet  there  are 
seldom  deep  or  long-lying  snows  and  the  abund- 
ance of  grass  renders  it  easy  for  the  flocks  to 
find  subsistence.  The  grasses  on  these  plains 
seem  not  so  fattening  as  upon  the  mountains 
of  Utah  and  Idaho,  but  are  more  abundant  than 
those  of  regions  to  the  southward  and  produce  a 


220  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

fine  class  of  sheep.  In  this  region  are  found 
the  larger  types  of  Merinos,  with  often  an  in- 
fusion of  Cotswold  or  Lincoln  or  Leicester 
blood,  while  mutton-bred  rams  of  all  types  are 
used  to  produce  market  lambs.  Sheep  do  not 
permanently  injure  the  grasses  of  this  region 
and  indeed  when  grazed  with  judgment,  not  to 
overstock,  the  range  is  often  benefited.  In  fact, 
some  progressive  ranchmen,  make  it  a  practice 
to  pasture  cattle  and  sheep  together  and  find 
that  both  thrive. 

PARASITIC  INFECTION  OF  THE  RANGES. 

There  is  sometimes  in  this  region,  particu- 
larly in  the  Dakotas,  sufficient  humidity  to  make 
it  possible  for  internal  parasites  to  propagate 
and  diffuse  themselves  through  the  flocks. 
Grievous  losses  from  stomach  worms  are  re- 
ported during  bad  seasons  and  tape  worms  have 
worked  havoc  over  much  of  the  region. 

These  losses,  however,  are  far  less  serious 
than  occur  in  the  states  east  of  the  Missouri 
river. 

HAPPY  FUTURE  OF  THE  REGION. 

This  whole  region  is  destined  to  be,  the  author 
believes,  one  vast  pastoral  expanse,  dotted  with 
sheep  herds,  and  given  over  very  nearly,  to  the 
•exclusion  of  other  animals,  to  the  sheep.  It  is  the 
one  part  of  the  United  States  having  abundant 
grass,  admirable  climate  and  soil  capable  of 
growing  almost  any  breed  of  sheep  in  perfec- 
tion and  with  little  loss  from  parasitic  infection. 

There  is,  too,  the  advantage  of  an  intelligent 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.    223 

and  progressive  people  embarked  in  the  sheep 
industry  and  they  have  already  shown  by  their 
work  in  suppressing  scab  over  large  parts  of 
this  region  what  they  can  and  will  accomplish. 

These  plains  do  not  produce  as  early  or  as 
fat  lambs  as  the  mountains  southwest  of  them 
but  very  superior  feeding  lambs  come  from 
their  ranges. 

There  was  once  small  preparation  made  for 
winter  feeding  in  this  region.  There  is  today  a 
great  deal  of  hay  being  put  up,  both  of  native 
and  alfalfa  sorts.  When  snow  is  deep  ''snow 
plows"  are  used,  which  make  bare  strips  along 
which  the  flocks  feed.  Sometimes  corn  is  fed 
scattered  on  the  ground.  In  some  parts  of  this 
country  the  summer  and  winter  ranges  are  dis- 
tinct, the  flocks  climbing  into  the  mountains 
during  the  heated  season  and  relieving  the 
range  of  their  presence;  in  other  parts  the 
mountains  are  too  remote  and  the  sheep  use 
near  by  parts  of  the  range  for  both  summer  and 
winter  grazing. 

Except  on  farms  in  the  East  there  is  no  other 
part  of  the  United  States  where  much  increase 
in  numbers  of  sheep  kept  can  be  made.  Here 
double  the  numbers  now  kept,  may  be  and  some 
day  doubtless  will  be  kept  when  the  cattle  men 
turn  sheep  breeders. 

MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  RANGE  EAMS. 

The  ''buck  herd"  is  a  necessary  institution 
upon  the  range,  and  often  a  troublesome  prop- 
osition it  is.  There  are  usually  kept  about  30 
rams  to  the  thousand  ewes,  though  some  grow- 


224  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

ers  use  a  larger  number.  Various  methods  are 
adopted  to  keep  these  rams  between  breeding 
seasons.  They  are  sometimes  pastured  in  a 
fenced  pasture  and  corralled  at  night  to  keep 
them  from  coyotes.  Sometimes  they  are  herded 
where  they  are  enough  of  them  on  a  ranch  to 
make  a  herd  and  he  must  indeed  be  an  active 
and  careful  herder  who  will  lose  none  of  them, 
since  as  fall  days  come  on  their  instinct  leads 
them  to  roam  in  search  of  females. 

Often  several  ranches  will  combine  their 
forces  and  put  all  the  rams  together  in  one  herd. 
And  others  will  allow  them  to  run  with  the  ewes 
during  winter  and  spring,  separating  them  in 
summer  when  there  might  be  danger  of  too 
early  matings. 

Sometimes  it  is  possible  to  put  the  rams  in  a 
wether  herd,  though  wether  bands  are  not 
nearly  so  common  as  they  once  were  and  many 
ranchers  keep  none  at  all,  selling  off  all  wether 
lambs  or  at  most  keeping  them  only  till  year- 
lings past. 

WHERE  THE  RAMS   COME   FROM. 

The  source  of  supply  of  range  rams  is  prin- 
cipally from  large  growers  of  rams  situated  in 
various  parts  of  the  range  country  and  in  the 
valleys  of  California  and  Utah.  Eastern  Ore- 
gon produces  thousands  of  magnificent  rams 
mainly  of  Merino  blood,  approaching  the  E_am- 
bouillet  type  or  purely  of  that  blood.  Califor- 
nia sends  many  high-class  Merino  rams  to  the 
ranges.  Utah  and  Idaho  grow  Merino  and 
Cotswold  rams  bv  thousands  with  lesser  num- 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.  225 

bers  of  other  mutton  breeds.  Wyoming  grows 
Merinos,  Cotswolds,  Leicesters  and  Hamp- 
shires. 

Range-bred  rams  are  most  serviceable  on  the 
range,  having  learned  how  to  live  there  and 
being  more  muscular  and  hardy  than  Eastern 
farm-grown  sheep.  There  is,  however,  a  steady 
stream  of  the  best  bred  sires  from  Eastern  stud 
flocks  going  to  reinforce  the  blood  of  the  moun- 
tain stud  flocks.  The  day  seems  past  when 
large  numbers  of  Eastern  farm-grown  rams, 
will  be  used  on  common  range  herds  since  the 
Western  rams  are  in  fairly  abundant  supply 
and  are  more  efficient. 

THE  BEEEDING  SEASON. 

On  the  range  rams  are  turned  in  usually  to 
bring  the  lambs  in  late  May  or  June.  It  is  dis- 
astrous to  lamb  down  before  the  herd  is  settled 
on  good  grass  and  where  it  may  remain  for 
some  weeks  with  little  driving.  There  is  not 
the  objection  to  late  lambing  on  the  range  that 
there  is  on  the  farm,  since  the  danger  of  parasit- 
ic infection  is  escaped  in  the  range  flock.  This 
is  principally  from  two  causes;  first,  that  the 
soil  is  usually  too  dry  to  permit  the  germs  to  de- 
velop upon  it,  and  second  that  the  sheep  are 
moved  often  and  seldom  return  to  graze  over 
the  same  ground  before  an  interval  of  weeks, 
months  or  a  year. 

VIGOR  OF  EWES  AND  LAMBS. 

It  is  astonishing  to  see  how  little  difficulty 
range  ewes  have  in  passing  through  the  jDcrils 


226  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

of  lambbirtli.  There  seems  seldom  a  case  of 
wrong  presentation  and  often  not  one  ewe  is 
lost  from  a  thousand  at  lambing  time. 

Then  the  lambs  seem  endowed  with  remark- 
able vigor  at  birth  and  not  one  of  a  thousand 
but  will  get  up  and  find  its  mother's  maternal 
fount  without  aid  from  the  shepherd.  Indeed 
this  is  fortunate,  seeing  that  he  is  generally  re- 
mote from  yards  or  fences,  and  to  catch  a  range 
ewe  is  commonly  a  work  of  some  difficulty. 

It  is  a  lesson  to  the  Eastern  farmer  to  see  the 
remarkable  viability  and  vigor  of  these  range- 
born  lambs,  being  an  illustration  of  Nature's 
way  of  management  to  promote  vigor  and  re- 
production. 

THE  BUSY  SHEPHERD  AT  LAMBING  TIME. 

A  good  shepherd  will,  however,  be  busy  at 
lambing  time,  for  there  are  many  little  things 
to  occupy  his  attention  then.  One  of  the  most 
essential  is  to  observe  the  ewes  with  spoiled 
udders  and  those  having  imperfect  udders, 
made  so  perhaj^s  by  careless  shearers  who  cut 
off  the  ends  of  the  teats.  These  lose  their  lambs 
and  should  be  caught,  examined  and  marked 
so  plainly  that  they  can  never  escape  the  eyes 
of  the  master,  when  next  the  flock  passes  the 
assorting  chute. 

THE  COYOTE. 

Then  there  is  the  coyote  pest.  The  coyote  is 
a  small  wolf,  not  much  larger  than  a  big  fox, 
but  having  a  voracious  appetite  for  lambs.  To 
combat  covotes  a  number  of  methods  are  used, 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     227 

.and  all  fail  if  persisted  in,  since  the  coyote  is 
one  of  the  most  cunning  beasts  of  prey  in  the 
world.  Strychnine  placed  in  carcasses  found 
dead  kill  a  good  many,  but  some  coyotes  learn 
to  avoid  strychnine.  The  watchful  shepherd 
gets  a  chance  to  shoot  one  now  and  then. 
Occasionally  a  coyote  may  be  trapped.  And 
greyhounds,  or  rather  special  hounds  bred  for 
the  purpose,   having  the   conformation  of  the 


A  SHEEP  WAGON  ON  THE  RANGE 

greyhounds  with  more  size  and  better  fighters, 
catch  some  of  them. 

At  lambing  time,  however,  coyotes  assemble, 
scenting  a  feast.  Then  the  shepherd  can  not 
avoid  letting  his  flock  spread  over  quite  an  area 
of  range  since  to  crowd  the  ewes  close  would  be 
sure  to  make  many  orphan  lambs.  It  helps  to 
build  fires  about  at  various  points,  as  though 
there  were  numerous  camp  fires,  and  the  wary 


228  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

beasts  scenting  danger,  keep  their  distance.  To 
hang  out  lanterns  is  a  good  practice,  also.  To 
patrol  the  flock  almost  ceaselessly  with  rifle  in 
hand,  firing  it  now  and  then  is  the  method  most 
effective,  and  this  is  usually  adopted  by  careful 
shepherds.  It  is  necessary  at  this  time  to  have 
help,  and  two  or  three  men  may,  if  available, 
keep  themselves  usefully  employed  about  the 
lambing  flock. 

^^TKIMMING^'  THE  LAMBS. 

Lambing  lasts  usually  only  a  week  or  two  on 
the  range,  since  the  rams  are  not  put  in  till  late 
and  the  ewes  soon  come  in  heat  and  conceive. 

After  the  lambs  have  become  strong  they  are 
earmarked,  docked  (unless  they  are  to  go  to 
market,  in  which  case  their  tails  are  sometimes 
left  long),  and  castrated. 

They  grow  very  rapidly  if  well  born  on  good 
range.  The  shepherd  has  now  some  compensa- 
tion for  his  pains  and  anxieties.  His  duties 
are  comparatively  light,  he  has  time  to  keep  a 
neat  camp,  to  hunt  a  little  for  grouse  or  deer, 
and  the  flock  itself  is  a  source  of  great  pleasure, 
if  he  is  more  than  an  indifferent  hireling.  In 
the  evenings  when  the  ewes  have  assembled, 
perhaps  on  the  slope  of  some  ravine,  the  lambs 
will  disengage  themselves  from  the  flock  and 
withdrawing  a  little  way  will  race  up  and  down 
in  mobs,  a  fuzzy  flood,  undulating  over  the 
ground.  Again  some  belligerents  will  square 
off  and  fight  mock  fights,  butting  by  twos  and 
threes  until  one  decides  that  too  rough  a  sport. 
Again  there  will  be  a  game  of  leap  frog,  or  ^^fol- 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     229 

low  your  leader,"  and  strings  of  lambs  will 
race  up  over  banks  and  rocks  and  jump  stiff- 
legged  down  the  other  side. 

After  a  time  some  old  ewe,  feeling  a  pressure 
within  her  udder,  will  disengage  herself  from 
the  rest  and  coming  to  the  open  will  call  anx- 
iously for  her  lamb.  As  though  a  miracle  some 
lamb   will   stop,    listen,   cease   to  play   and  an- 


LINCOLN  SHEARLINGS. 

swering  with  a  bleat,  will  come  scampering 
across  the  ravine  to  her  to  get  his  evening  meal. 
Curiously  enough  the  ewe,  though  she  has 
seen  him  a  thousand  times,  refuses  to  believe 
that  he  is  her  rightful  offspring  until  she  has 
applied  her  infallible  test,  her  nose.  Scent 
tells  her  it  is  her  own  darling  child,  and  she 
tranquilly  allows  him  to  milk  her  dry. 


230  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

SHEARING  ON  THE  RANGE. 

Shearing  on  the  ranges  occurs  at  different 
seasons,  according  to  the  conditions  and  charac- 
ter of  the  country.  Usually  in  southern  ranges 
it  is  before  lambing;  at  railway  stations  where 
the  wool  is  readily  shipped  away.  If  on  the 
other  hand,  the  ewes  are  shorn  upon  their  sum- 
mer range,  they  may  be  shorn  after  lambing. 

The  shearers  are  roving  groups  of  men,  as 
needs  must  be,  possessed  of  iron  muscles  and 
great  deftness  of  hand.  A  good  shearer  will 
average  100  sheep  a  day,  for  which  he  gets 
from  seven  to  twelve  cents  per  head.  Nor  must 
Eastern  shearers  console  themselves  that  these 
men  do  exceptionally  rough  or  careless  work; 
they  shear  on  the  average,  quite  as  well  as  the 
common  shearers  of  the  Eastern  states.  Nor 
are  their  sheep  as  easily  shorn  as  the  general 
run  of  farm  sheep  in  the  East.  Many  a  careful 
man  has  laid  the  foundation  of  his  fortune  by 
shearing  sheep  on  Western  ranges.  An  old 
friend  of  the  writer,  now  known  and  honored 
throughout  all  that  mountain  region  and  one  of 
the  largest  sheep  owners,  began  ranch  life  as  a 
shearer  on  California  ranges.  He  now  owns 
probably  50,000  sheep  of  his  own.  There  are 
now  a  good  many  plants  where  machine  shears 
are  in  operation  and  their  number  is  increasing; 
nevertheless  there  are  many  situations  where 
the  old  hand  shears  will  continue  to  be  used. 

DIPPING. 

Dipping  on  the  range  should  be  a  regular 
yearly  or  semi-annual  practice.     When  it  can 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     231 

be  done  it  should  follow  shearing.  x\nother 
practice  is  to  dip  when  the  lambs  are  weaned 
in  the  fall.  The  dipping  is  done  in  a  rapid  man- 
ner by  means  of  very  long  tanks  or  swimming 
vats,  through  which  the  sheep  are  crowded  in 
rapid  succession.  A  furnace  adjacent,  with 
boilers,  heats  and  cooks  the  dip  used.  Several 
thousand  sheep  are  dipped  in  a  day,  according 
to  the  size  of  the  plant.     The  dip  most  used  is 


i 

1 

■ 

'■^^y  //  i 

^^t 

rw^&^^^^^^M^^^^^ 

^^^^ 

'^<< 

^//  \ 

v*^M 

^^^^Sk 

ii^^ift' 

s 

i 

^^^^^^NplpSr^r^ 

S 

AN  ILLINOIS  FEEDING  AND   SHIPPING  YARD. 

lime  and  sulphur,  which  is  certainly  when 
rightly  compounded  an  efficient  scab  destroyer. 
The  writer  when  engaged  in  sheep  ranching 
on  the  hills  and  mesas  of  Utah  did  not  use  this 
dip,  since  it  is  injurious  to  the  fleece  and  seemed 
not  to  eradicate  the  disease,  but  used  instead 
one  of  the  dips  prepared  from  coal  tar,  using 
it  strong  and  hot,  and  entirely  eradicated  scab 
from  his  range,  so  that  it  did  not  again  reappear 
during  his  occupancy  of  it.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  scab  can  be  entirely  banished  from  the 
ranges  if  men  can  be  educated  to  it,  and  have 


232  SHEEP   FARMING    IN  AMERICA, 

instilled  within  them  a  living  conscience  that 
will  lead  them  to  do  their  plain  duty  toward 
themselves,  their  flocks  and  their  neighbors. 
The  obstacle  to  complete  scab  eradication  is  the 
ignorance  and  criminal  indifference  of  the 
lower  class  of  sheep  owners  and  the  abettors  of 
these  criminals  are  often  the  state  inspectors, 
who  very  often  make  of  inspection  a  farce  and 
give  to  their  friends,  or  to  others  for  a  con- 
sideration, clean  bills  of  health  when  scab  is 
really  widespread.  To  give  them  the  benefit  of 
a  doubt,  however,  these  inspectors  very  often 
would  not  be  able  to  recognize  a  case  of  scab 
were  they  to  see  it  except  in  the  last  stages. 
There  is  growing,  however,  a  healthy  senti- 
ment, and  sooner  or  later  the  neighboring 
ranchmen  will  themselves  take  it  upon  them  to 
see  that  scab  is  eradicated  from  their  district 
and  compel  the  indifferent  to  clean  their  flocks 
in  self-defense.  That  done  a  great  and  un- 
necessary expense  will  be  saved,  since  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  dip  so  often,  only  ticks  being 
to  combat,  and  a  heavy  cloud  of  apprehension 
will  be  removed  from  the  sheep  owner's  mind 
and  the  shepherd's  as  well. 

THE  MALIGNED  ^^  SHEEP  HEKDEK.'^ 

There  is  in  the  minds  of  the  public  a  deep- 
seated  prejudice  against  the  range  shepherd, 
the  ''sheep  herder,"  and  he  is  often  regarded 
as  being  an  ignorant,  lazy,  and  generally  de- 
graded individual.  There  is  doubtless  here  and 
there  a  man  of  that  sort  engaged  in  herding 
sheep,  but  in  the  main  the  herders  are  men  of 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     233 

character  and  intelligence.  Their  work  de- 
velopes  within  them  quite  different  characteris- 
tics from  those  developed  in  the  man  who  herds 
cattle,  the  ''vaqueros"  who  do  their  work  on 
horseback. 

The  shepherds  acquire  patience,  thought  and 
faithfulness.  They  develop  endurance  and 
stoicism.  Lacking  the  dash  of  the  cowboys,  they 
have  greater  capacity  for  enduring  discomfort 
and  fatigue. 

There  are  every  year  wonderful  things  done 
on  the  sheep  ranges  by  these  faithful  herd- 
ers. Storms  come  and  blizzards  blow  and  some- 
times there  is  no  shelter.  Then  the  sheep  can 
not  be  restrained  but  drift  aimlessly  before  the 
blast.  Then  the  herders  forsaking  their  tents 
and  the  comfort  and  shelter  to  be  found  therein 
follow  the  sheep,  striving  to  keep  them  together 
and  if  possible  to  lead  them  at  last  to  a  safe 
shelter,  j^erhaps  among  pines  or  behind  shelter- 
ing cliffs  and  hills. 

Oftentimes  these  storms  endure  for  several 
days  and  the  shepherd  may  tind  no  refuge  nor 
help  until  at  last  he  is  overcome  with  weariness 
and  cold  and  lies  down  in  the  snow  for  rest. 
Here  he  is  found,  sometimes  yet  alive  and  more 
often  frozen  to  death.  There  is  hardly  a  winter 
that  there  are  not  a  number  of  herders  lost  in 
storms  and  there  have  been  single  storms  that 
counted  their  dead  by  scores.  The  writer 
knows  one  old  man,  a  tine  herder  he  is,  who  has 
been  found  buried  in  a  snow  drift  beside  his 
flock,  miles  from  the  camp,  so  frozen  that  he 
lost  all  the  lingers    of    both    hands,  only  one 


234  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

thumb  remaining.  This  old  man,  after  the  ter- 
rible experience,  calmly  resumed  his  occupa- 
tion, and  even  managed  to  live  alone  and  make 
camp  in  his  crippled  condition. 

Men  of  foreign  birth  often  make  excellent 
herders  for  the  range  country.  Germans  excel, 
Portuguese  are  reputed  good  herders,  Andalus- 
ians  have  a  reputation  in  parts  of  California,  a 
Chinaman  has  been  known  to  become  a  skilled 
shepherd  and  Mexicans  have  their  virtues, 
among  them  a  dog- like  fidelity,  though  they  are 
not  reputed  so  daring  and  resolute  in  time  of 
stress  as  men  of  Northern  climes.  And  now 
and  then  a  lad  of  American  stock  excels.  Scots 
are  everywhere  found  among  them,  and  every- 
where in  the  lead,  having  a  heritage  of  sheep- 
keeping  ancestry  and  tradition. 

UPS   AND  DOWNS  OF   THE   BUSINESS. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  sheep  industry 
has  such  remarkable  ups  and  downs.  There 
will  be  a  series  of  years  when  flocks  on  the 
ranges  make  their  owners  very  large  profits. 
As,  for  instance,  if  a  thousand  ewes  cost  the 
owner  $8,000  and  thirty  rams  will  cost  maybe 
$300  more.  The  expense  of  keeping  them  will 
vary  greatly,  but  may  be  as  low  as  60  to  75  cents 
per  head,  or,  say,  $772.50.  It  has  been  known 
that  the  thousand  ewes  would  drop  and  rear,  a 
thousand  lambs,  but  cutting  this  down  to  850, 
they  sometimes  sell  for  as  much  as  $3  each  on 
the  range,  or  $2,550.  Then  the  fleeces  have  sold 
recently  for  more  than  a  dollar  per  head,  or 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     235 

$1,030  more,  leaving  a  paper  profit  of  $2,807.50 
on  an  investment  of  but  $3,000. 

However,  as  there  will  needs  be  some  ewes 
die  and  rams  to  be  replenished,  we  can  take  off 
the  $807.50  to  put  with  the  herd  and  still  leave 
a  nice  dividend. 

On  the  other  hand,  when  times  are  good  and 
sheep  prices  high  the  wary  operators  are  will- 
ing to  sell,  and  men  with  moderate  or  small 
amounts  of  capital  buy,  giving  mortgages  on  all 
they  possess  for  security.  Thereafter  (and 
oft-times  soon)  things  happen!  Wool  declines 
in  price,  lambs  go  begging,  hard  seasons  come 
and  the  men  find  themselves  often  involved  in 
absolute  ruin.  It  is  related  during  the  last 
slump  in  sheep  values,  about  1894,  in  Texas  a 
rancher  started  to  market  with  a  train  load  of 
sheep.  He  got  drunk  in  Kansas  City  and  the 
sheep  went  on  without  him,  sold,  but  not  for 
enough  to  pay  the  freight.  He  therefore  re- 
ceived a  letter  from  his  commission  firm  asking 
him  to  remit  for  the  freight,  and  they  in  turn  re- 
ceived a  telegram  from  him  saying,  ''I  have  no 
money;  am  sending  on  more  sheep." 

THE   HOPEFUL  OUTLOOK. 

The  writer  believes,  however,  that  the  days  of 
ruinous  prices  for  sheep  are  over.  The  capac- 
ity of  our  country  to  consume  sheep  has  grown 
very  enormously.  The  mutton-eating  habit, 
once  formed,  is  retained.  Mutton  is  indeed  an 
economical  meat  to  buy,  since  in  chops  one  can 
buy   small    amounts  more   easily   than  in  beef 


236 


SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 


steaks;  thus  the  high  price  does  not  so  much 
count.  And  mutton,  especially  lamb  mutton,  is 
consumed  by  the  well-to-do,— a  steadily  increas- 
ing class  in  our  country.  It  is  hard  to  believe 
that  there  will  ever  again  be  such  a  Waterloo  at 


m' 

Mm 

ji 

'm. 

^ 

■H 

■ 

■i 

SUFFOLK  RAM. 


the  Jast  decade  of  the  Nineteenth  Century 
brought.  And  yet  the  writer  wishes  to  prevent 
his  friends  from  rushing  heedlessly  to  buy  when 
prices  are  the  highest,  and  to  caution  them 
from  following  the  example  of  the  Texan  and 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     237 

giving  their  flocks  away  merely  because  they 
are  temporarily  depressed. 

A  WORK  TO  BE  DONE. 

There  is  a  great  work  remaining  to  be  done 
on  our  ranges,— that  is  to  build  up  the  quality 
of  the  flocks  till  they  approach  in  excellence  the 
quality  of  the  flocks  of  New  Zealand  and  Ar- 
gentina. The  writer  once  in  Deptford  Mar- 
ket, where  the  live  cattle  and  sheep  sent  to  Lon- 
don from  foreign  ports  are  slaughtered,  was 
shocked  to  see  how  much  better  were  the 
strangers'  sheep  than  those  of  his  brethren. 
Needless  to  say  that  the  good  sheep  brought 
much  the  better  prices. 

To  thus  upbuild  our  range  flocks  needs  a 
steady  inflow  of  the  best  rams,  mainly  of  Ram- 
bouillet  and  the  larger,  smoother  Delaine  type, 
and  the  crossing  of  their  produce  with  rams  of 
Lincoln,  Cotswold  and  Leicester  blood. 

Such  cross-breeding  needs,  to  be  a  success, 
great  study  and  attention  and  of  course  with 
finer  animals  comes  always  need  for  bet- 
ter feed  and  care,  for  provision  of  forage  for 
winter  and  cessation  of  long  and  fruitless  jour- 
neyings.  These  things  will  come,  the  great 
plains  and  grassy  mesas  and  green  forested 
mountains  will  soon  be  covered  with  flocks  of 
far  better  sheep  than  they  hold  today,  and  by 
some  sort  of  peaceable  division  of  the  ranges 
each  rancher  will  know  where  he  may  graze  and 
where  he  may  save  grass  with  sure  expectation 
of  feeding  it  himself  in  time  of  need. 


238  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

SHEEP  ADVANCE  —  CATTLE   KETKEAT. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer  that  the  cattle 
will  steadily  retreat  before  the  peaceable  ad- 
vance of  the  sheep,  since  sheep  are  best  fitted 
for  this  region  and  bring  far  more  profit.  There 
will  always  be  room,  however,  for  some  cattle 
and  they  will  be  found  to  thrive  alongside  the 
sheep,  when  the  day  of  intelligent  grazing  and 
range  management  has  been  reached. 

WINTEE  FEEDING  OF  SHEEP  AND  LAMBS. 

The  writer  does  not  think  it  worth  while  to 
devote  much  space  to  describing  the  best  meth- 
ods of  feeding  native  lambs  in  winter,  for  the 
reason  that  natives  (those  born  on  Eastern 
farms)  ought  to  be  fat  and  sold  before  winter 
has  set  in.  If  they  are  not  fat  it  may  very  like- 
ly be  because  they  are  infected  with  some  de- 
pressing parasite,  such  as  stomach  worm  or 
nodular  disease,  and  in  that  case  are  hardly 
worth  fattening  at  all.  In  his  own  practice  he 
has  abandoned  feeding  native  lambs  entirely 
since  his  own  lambs,  born  upon  the  farms,  are 
fat  and  sold  before  July  and  those  he  can  buy 
give  him  almost  certain  trouble. 

It  may  be  said,  however  that  if  one  is  to  feed 
native  lambs  he  should  select  them  if  possible 
with  an  eye  to  getting  the  good  ones,  those  in 
health.  These  are  easily  discovered.  They 
show  their  health  by  the  vigor  of  their  action, 
the  quickness  of  their  movements,  the  bright- 
ness of  their  eyes  and  if  examined  closely  the 
pinkness  of  their  skins.     Those  that  are  droop- 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     241 

ing  or  that  show  white  chalky  skins,  signs  of 
diarrhoea  and  have  dead-looking  fleeces  are 
surely  infected  with  worms  and  if  they  can  not 
be  discarded  they  should  be  treated  before  be- 
ing put  on  feed. 

It  is  not  well  to  turn  feeding  lambs  out  on 
pasture  when  they  are  brought  home.  They  will 
gain  little  on  pasture  in  the  fall,  unless  it  be 
some  special  sowed  crop  such  as  rape  or 
vetches,  and  to  turn  the  lambs  on  the  grass  pas- 
tures usually  results  in  gnawing  the  grass  to 
the  ground  without  putting  on  any  gain  as 
compensation.  It  is  therefore  best  to  put  them 
directly  into  the  feed  lot  and  to  begin  feeding 
them  on  dry  hay,  or  other  forage. 

NECESSITY  FOR  DIPPING. 

Earlier  in  this  book  directions  are  given  for 
dipping  and  the  reasons  why.  We  will  here  re- 
peat and  emphasize  the  fact  that  all  sheep  that 
have  been  shipped  on  railway  cars  or  penned 
in  railway  yards  are  very  apt  to  be  infected 
with  germs  of  scab.  If  they  have  no  scab  germs 
they  almost  surely  have  ticks  on  them.  Ticks 
will  fatten  in  the  same  shed  with  sheep  but  the 
sheep  will  suffer.  Ticks  find  slow  sale  in  the 
market  place.  Scab,  if  it  breaks  out  during  the 
feeding  season,  is  ruinous  and  will  entail  great 
loss  unless  promptly  suppressed.  The  longer 
dipping  is  delayed  the  more  costly  it  is  because 
of  the  greater  amount  of  material  required,  be- 
cause of  the  greater  degree  of  exposure  when 
the  weather  is  colder,  and  because  the  animal 
after  being  on  feed  suffers  a  greater  shock  and 


242  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA, 

has  a  worse  set-back  than  when  dipped  on  its  ar- 
rival at  the  feed  yard. 

Lambs  that  are  sent  out  from  the  larger  cen- 
ters of  distribution,  such  as  Chicago,  Omaha  and 
Kansas  City,  are  dipped  under  Federal  super- 
vision before  they  leave  the  yards.  This  dip- 
ping should  preclude  the  necessity  of  further 
dipping  at  home  unless  in  the  case  of  very  well 
advanced  cases  of  scab.  Such  instances  of  dis- 
eased sheep  are  much  less  numerous  than  they 
once  were,  thanks  to  a  rather  determined  scab 
campaign  by  flock-owners  on  the  ranges.  The 
dipping  at  the  Chicago  yards  has  for  several 
years  been  so  thorough  that  the  writer  has 
ceased  to  again  dip  the  lambs  received  from 
that  place.  He  feels,  however,  that  he  is  run- 
ning considerable  risk  by  this  neglect,  since  it 
is  only  a  question  of  time  when  carelessness  or 
^' graft"  will  send  out  again  strings  of  im- 
perfectly dipped  lambs  from  these  very  yards. 
This  has,  at  least,  been  the  history  of  the  past. 
One  winter  some  years  ago  the  writer  trusting 
to  the  dipping  there  received  had  the  distress- 
ing experience  of  having  to  dip  every  sheep 
upon  the  farm  in  midwinter. 

It  is  safer  then  not  to  rely  upon  the  dipping 
at  the  yards,  but  to  dip  carefully  upon  arrival, 
or  as  soon  thereafter  as  the  lambs  have  rested 
and  recovered  their  strength.  Until  that  time 
if  the  weather  be  good  it  is  wise  to  turn  the 
sheep  into  pasture,  where  they  may  find  water 
and  grass  and  rest  sufficient  to  recruit  them. 
Then,  as  soon  as  rested,  thev  should  be  dipped 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     243 

and  put  at  once  into  their  permanent  quarters, 
if  they  are  to  be  fed  in  yards  or  sheds. 

SELECTION    OF   FEEDERS. 

A  visit  to  one  of  our  great  stock  yards  is  a 
most  interesting  experience.  There  are  seen 
there  such  a  multitude  of  slieep  of  ahnost  every 
sort  and  description.  There  are  great  bands 
of  fat  Western  wethers,  noble  sheep,  some  of 
them  of  an  astonishing  uniformity  in  size  and 
character.  They  are  "strong  almost  as 
horses,"  used  all  their  lievs  to  roaming  over  the 
plains  and  mountains.  These  may  go  for  ex- 
port, or  to  the  killers.  They  are  too  fat  to  feed 
and  would  cost  too  much.  And  yet  they  are  not 
so  fat  as  the  sheep  that  come  in  winter  and 
spring  from  the  feed  lots.  They  are  just  right 
to  give  the  most  profit  to  the  killers,  with  enough 
fat  and  little  waste. 

Beside  them  will  be  a  band  of  thinner  weth- 
ers, perhaps  from  a  dried-up  range,  of  fairly 
good  quality.  They,  too,  will  go  to  the  killers, 
though  they  are  almost  thin  enough  to  sell  at 
a  farmer's  price.  The  next  pen  may  show  some 
ideal  feeders,  big  and  strong  and  active,  yet  in 
thin  flesh.  Probably  it  did  not  rain  on  their 
range,  or  they  traveled  too  far.  The  killers 
pass  them  by  and  the  feeder  gets  them  at  a  cent 
or  more  off. 

In  the  next  pen  will  be  seen  a  different  type 
altogether,  a  band  of  wild,  scarred,  thin,  sharp- 
backed,  weazened  sheep,  looking  as  though  all 
the  plagues  of  Egypt  had  struck  them.  They 
are  the  product  of  an  ignorant  and  stingy  own- 


244  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

er,  a  careless  and  unprofitable  shepherd  and  a 
starved  and  overpastured  range,  together  with 
a  dearth  of  rain  and  snow.  >i  o  one  wants  them 
and  they  sell  very  low  indeed.  Sometimes  they 
are  great  bargains  and  if  carefully  nursed  for 
a  few  months  will  lay  on  flesh  fairly  well  and 
being  bought  so  cheaply  will  reward  well  their 
feeder.  There  is,  however,  the  disadvantage  of 
having  your  yards  filled  with  stuff  of  which  you 
are  ashamed  till  near  the  last  of  the  feeding  sea- 
son. They  are  more  likely  to  make  money  for 
their  feeder  than  the  good  feeders  because 
they  are  bought  so  cheaply  and  weigh  so  little. 

However,  if  there  is  not  at  home  plenty  of 
good  clover  or  alfalfa  hay,  or  if  the  feeder  is  not 
willing  to  buy  for  them  wheat  bran  and  a  trifle 
of  oilmeal,  if  they  must  be  fattened  on  corn  and 
cornstalks  mainly  it  is  doubtful  if  they  are  of 
the  class  that  he  should  buy.  Emaciation  calls 
for  foods  rich  in  portein.  With  plenty  of  early- 
cut  alfalfa  hay  in  the  mow  these  thin  sheep  may 
bring  profit.  They  are  of  no  value  for  a  short 
feed.  They  require  time  to  first  restore  their 
strength  and  afterward  to  rebuild,  or  perhaps 
build  their  flesh  and  afterward  to  lay  on  fat. 

Unless  one  can  buy  at  a  low  price  per  pound 
it  is  unwise  to  buy  the  emaciated  ones,  seeing 
that  his  profit  comes  largely  from  a  hoped-for 
advance  on  the  purchase  cost  and  it  costs  money 
to  build  flesh  in  the  feed  lot. 

There  is,  however,  another  range  of  condi- 
tions to  be  considered  when  selecting  our  feed- 
ers. That  is  the  breeding  of  the  sheep.  Here 
is  a  pen    of   very   heavily   fleeced  wethers,  or 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.     247 

lambs.  They  will  shear  very  heavy,  but  they 
are  not  of  the  best  form.  They  have  thin  necks 
and  drooping  sharp  shoulders  and  a  look  of 
meekness  and  depression.  Shall  we  take  themf 
In  the  next  pen  is  a  lot  with  evidence  of  mutton 
blood  on  the  Merino.  They  are  lighter  fleeced, 
but  stronger.  As  a  rule  the  very  heavily 
flee<3ed  sheep  are  not  the  best  money-makers. 
They  will  not  eat  so  well  nor  make  so  good 
gains.  Nature  specializes ;  the  food  goes  to  flesh 
or  it  goes  to  fleece  and  oil  in  the  wool.  And 
after  a  time  thrown  together,  probably  into  a 
load  of  good  feeders.  It  is  only  the  exceedingly 
heavy  fleece  that  is  to  be  avoided. 

Now  visit  the  lamb  pens.  The  wethers  have 
run  very  even  and  have  required  little  a&sorting. 
The  lambs  are  even  also,  but  there  is  with  them 
a  few  culls  so  that  the  buyer  for  the  great 
packers  usually  reserves  the  right  to  discard  10, 
20,  30,  or  maybe  more  of  each  lot.  These  are 
after  a  time  thrown  together  probably  into  a 
load  of  feeders.  The  lambs  are  in  character 
about  what  the  wethers  were,  though  they  have 
suffered  more  in  transit  and  are  not  so  strong. 
Again  we  see  the  killers  bidding  high  for  the 
tops.  Then  goes  up  a  sigh  as  you  relinquish 
them,  and  you  look  on  down  the  line.  Ah! 
Here  are  the  beauties !  They  are  from  Merino 
mothers,  evidently,  and  their  sires  were  Shrop- 
shires,  or  maybe  Lincolns  or  Cotswolds  and 
they  are  small  and  in  rather  thin  flesh,  so  there 
is  a  chance.  They  have  been  born  late  and 
their  tops  have  been  selected  and  sold,  these 
younger  ones  remaining. 


248  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

If  we  get  them  we  have  done  well.  They  will 
grow  and  fatten  admirably  and  be  our  pride 
and  joy  all  through  the  feeding  season.  When 
fat  they  will  command  the  top  price.  If  we 
buy  them  we  will  take  350  (which  fills  a  car)  or 
maybe  700  or  1,050,  and  we  may  need  to  buy 
some  smaller  lots  to  make  the  number  come  out 
even. 

But  hold !  Those  lambs  were  after  all  priced 
pretty  high,  and  here  are  some  lively  little  fel- 
lows, not  so  well  bred,  quite,  but  yet  giving  evi- 
dence of  good  blood.  They  are  very  late  and 
small,  pretty  thin,  too,  weighing  less  than  50 
pounds.  "What  of  them f  It  depends  upon  what 
is  stored  at  home  in  the  barn.  If  there  is  abun- 
dance of  good  alfalfa,  if  there  are  silage  and 
and  perhaps  roots,  and  loving  care  and  generous 
shelter  and  long  time,  take  them !  They  are  the 
best.  But  if  the  feeding  season  must  be  short, 
if  there  is  little  clover  or  alfalfa,  take  the  other 
lot. 

And  here  is  yet  another  sort.  They  must 
have  come  from  a  terrible  range  where  grief 
has  been  their  constant  portion.  They  are 
miserably  thin  and  weak  and  were  ill  bred  at  the 
beginning.  Their  one  redeeming  feature  is  that 
they  weigh  little  and  will  be  sold  for  a  very 
small  price  per  pound.  Shall  we  venture  to 
buy  them!  That  also  depends  upon  the  fur- 
nishings at  home.  Many  of  them  may  die  be- 
fore they  gain  enough  strength  to  enable  them 
to  go  on  and  gain.  They  will  require  a  long 
feeding  period.  But  when  they  are  fat  they  will 
sell  for  nearlv  as  much  as  the  best  bred  lambs 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.  249 

in  the  market.  There  is  that  peculiar  side  to 
the  lamb  trade :  the  light  lambs  of  part  Mexican 
type  when  rightly  fed  sell  well.  So  if  we  have 
the  feed,  the  kindness  and  comforts  at  home, 
we  may  venture  to  take  even  these  weaklings. 
But  let  us  beware  of  them  if  we  propose  to 
''rough  them"  or  to  try  to  hasten  them  along 
by  a  short  period  of  heavy  feeding. 

Here  is  yet  another  opportunity.  In  these 
smaller  pens  are  a  lot  of  thin  Natives,  from 
some  near-by  state.  They  are  big  enough  but 
their  lack-luster  eyes  and  sunken  wool  and  gen- 
eral air  of  discouragement  speak  surely  of  an 
internal  revenue  department  held  under  the 
rule  of  predatory  parasite  worms.  If  these 
lambs  had  been  in  health  they  would  have  been 
fat,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  and  the  killers 
would  have  taken  them  in.  Avoid  them  un- 
less you  understand  treating  them  and  eradi- 
cating the  worms.  Thin  Western  lambs  do  not 
often  have  these  parasites  because  on  their  drier 
ranges  the  diseases  do  not  lodge  nor  spread. 
And  yet  lambs  from  some  of  the  more  Eastern 
ranges,  in  the  Dakotas,  Nebraska  and  occasion- 
ally from  Montana,  come  now  and  then  infected. 
Before  you  buy  these  thin  lambs  look  at  their 
skins.     If  they  are  chalky  pass  them  by. 

Here  are  ewes.  This  band  of  old  ewes,  in 
thin  flesh,  shows  evidences  of  fairly  good  breed- 
ing. They  have  a  motherly  look  too.  We  find 
that  we  can  buy  them  cheaply.  What  can  we 
do  with  them? 

Let  us  look  first  at  their  teeth.  Ah,  I  thought 
so  !  A  large  number  of  them  have  lost  their  front 


250  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

teeth.  This  means  two  or  three  things.  It  ac- 
counts for  their  being  sent  from  range  to  mar- 
ket. They  have  been  culled  out  because  they 
no  longer  could  subsist  well  on  the  tough 
grasses  and  herbage  of  the  range.  It  accounts 
mainly  for  their  emaciation  And  it  means  to 
you,  "Am  I  in  position  to  take  good  care  of 
these  old  ewesf  These  ewes  may  not  be  too 
old  to  make  a  good  recovery  under  favorable 
conditions ;  they  may  even  drop  a  strong  crojD  of 
lambs  and  nourish  them  well,  but  they  must  eat 
more  costly  food  than  ewes  that  have  1;heir 
teeth. 

They  ought  to  have  bran,  oats,  shelled  corn 
and  early-cut,  tender  hay.  But  they  are  for 
sale,  and  at  a  low  price.  If  it  is  early  enough  so 
that  we  can  breed  them  to  good  rams  we  may  do 
this ;  take  them  home  and  at  once  mate  them  with 
the  best  rams  of  Shropshire,  Southdown, 
Hampshire,  Dorset  or  whatever  we  fancy  that 
we  can  get  and  then  carry  them  along  well,  not 
forcing  too  much  till  after  the  lambs  are  born, 
and  after  that  with  judgment  and  discretion 
pouring  into  them  all  the  good  nourishing  stuff 
that  we  can  get  them  to  consume.  It  will  aston- 
ish us  how  those  lambs  will  grow,  and  the  beauty 
of  them  coming  from  these  skinny  old  ewes  but 
they  may  be  soon  sent  off  fat  to  market  and  the 
mothers  wdll  have  gained  all  the  time  in  flesh 
and  in  about  two  months'  more  feeding  will  be 
ready  to  go  after  their  lambs.  This  is  good 
practice  and  only  requires  the  right  combina- 
tion of  careful  handling,  with  skill  in  feeding, 
warm,  w^ell  ventilated  barns  and  an  assortment 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.    251 

of  feeds  with  wise  generosity  in  carrying  it  out 
to  make  the  thing  pay.  In  fact,  this  thing  has 
been  done.  100  ewes  have  been  bought  in  Chi- 
cago for  $175.  They  have  dropped  and  raised 
90  lambs  that  sold  at  about  10  to  14  weeks '  of  age 
for  over  $5.00  each.  The  ewes  sheared,  under 
this  good  care,  above  7  pounds  each  and  the  wool 
sold  for  25c.  Then  the  ewes  finally  fattened  and 
weighed  112  lbs.,  selling  for  5c  per  pound. 
Thus  the  ewe  that  cost  $1.75  in  Chicago  sold, 
with  her  wool  and  lamb,  for  $11.85  in  late  May. 
This  was  an  exceptionally  favorable  result, 
however  achieved  by  an  assemblage  of  favor- 
ing conditions  of  low  first  cost,  fairly  good  qual- 
it}^,  good  sires,  wise  and  generous  treatment  and 
a  booming  spring  market.  Let  the  indifferent 
shepherd,  or  the  one  having  ear  corn  and  tim- 
othy hay,  beware  of  these  broken-mouthed  ewes ; 
they  will  undo  him  every  time. 

There  is  danger  that  these  ewes  may  part  of 
them  be  already  with  lamb  to  some  inferior 
range  ram.  These  lambs  will  not  usually  fat- 
ten off  at  an  early  age  and  may  materially  af- 
fect the  result. 

Let  us  digress  here  to  consider  for  a  moment  a 
proposition  having  in  it  great  possibilities  of 
profit  for  the  feeder  and  offering  to  the  rancher 
a  ready  means  of  disposing  of  his  aging  ewe 
stuff'  without  too  much  sacrifice.  The  rancher 
may  cull  out  his  aged  ewes  before  they  have 
reached  too  decrepit  a  condition,  discarding  any 
that  have  spoiled  udders  or  defective  teats, 
and  putting  them  on  the  best  and  tenderest  grass 
he  can  find.     Put  with  them  good  blocky  mutton 


252  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

rams  as  early  as  possible  in  summer.  He 
ought  to  get  a  Down  or  Dorset  ram  for  this  pur- 
pose, since  the  long- wools  do  not  get  lambs  fat- 
tening best  at  a  very  early  age. 

Then  he  can  sell  the  ewes,  bred,  to  men  who 
make  a  business  of  fattening  winter  lambs,  and 
get  a  great  deal  more  for  them  than  it  has  cost 
him  to  give  them  this  treatment.  The  writer 
several  years  ago  called  the  attention  of  sheep 
growers  and  feeders  to  the  possibilities  of  this 


A  SHOW  OF  COTSWOLDS. 

practice  and  it  has  already  been  begun  in  a 
small  way  with  the  probability  that  the  prac- 
tice will  become  more  common  as  the  advantage 
becomes  known,  and  especially  as  Western 
sheep  ranching  narrows  down  to  a  state  of  set- 
tled practice  of  good  methods 

The  age  when  a  ewe  should  be  discarded 
varies  considerably  with  the  breed  and  also  with 
the  district  where  she  is  kept  and  the  manner 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.    253 

of  keeping.  In  England  among  the  Dorset 
breeders  it  is  the  custom  to  take  three  or  four 
crops  of  lambs  from  a  Dorset  ram,  then  to  breed 
them  to  a  Down  (Hampshire,  Shropshire  or 
Sussex),  and  sell  them  in  lamb  to  go  away  to 
men  who  make  it  a  practice  to  buy  these  ewes, 
grow  from  them  one  or  two  crops  of  lambs  and 
send  them  fat  to  market.  In  America  it  can 
hardly  be  said  that  there  is  any  established  sys- 
tem anywhere,  and  the  more  usual  metliod  is 
simply  to  continue  to  use  the  ewe  so  long  as  her 
teeth  are  good,  disposing  of  her  then  for  what 
she  will  bring.  There  is  something  to  be  said 
for  this  practice,  though  undoubtedly  wlien  we 
have  settled  down  to  a  good  and  regular  system 
of  management,  when  we  have  formed  a  habit  of 
good  management,  we  will  turn  off  our  ewes 
young  enough  so  that  they  may  be  finished 
easily  into  prime  mutton  and  will  not  have  be- 
come ^'shelly."  The  number  of  lambs  that 
can  be  taken  from  a  ewe  varies  somewliat  with 
the  breed.  Those  that  mature  quickly  the 
sooner  lose  their  usefulness.  Merinos  taking 
long  time  to  mature  are  sometimes  productive 
for  16  years  or  more.  Downs  and  Dorsets  are 
usually  past  their  usefulness  at  twelve  years. 
In  general  it  is  good  practice  to  discard  ewes 
upon  farms  at  about  the  age  of  six  to  eight 
years.  To  return  to  our  yards :  there  is  a  vast- 
ness  about  it  and  a  bewilderment  that  appalls 
the  man  fresh  from  tranquil  fields  where  a  flock 
of  500  sheep  seems  large.  On  some  single 
days  there  will  be  received  at  the  big  markets  as 
many  as  25,000,  or  even  more,  and  in  a  single 


254  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

brief  forenoon  most  of  them  will  be  sold  and 
many  of  them  disjoersed,  some  to  the  killers  and 
some  to  the  dipping  vat  and  on  cars  again  to  go 
out  to  country  feeders  It  is  a  confusing  place 
to  the  countryman  and  he  is  wise  to  choose  some 
skilled  commission  man  to  go  with  him  and  make 
his  purchases,  helping,  too,  in  making  selec- 
tions. 

It  is  not  always  wise  for  the  feeder  to  go  in 
person  to  the  market,  though  he  should  make  it 
a  point  to  be  there  once  or  twice  a  year  to  study 
types  and  results  of  other  men  if  possible 

The  advantage  in  leaving  the  purchase  alto- 
gether to  an  honest  and  capable  commission 
man  (there  are  such  in  most  markets)  is  that 
the  commission  man  may  take  advantage  of 
heavy  runs  and  depressed  markets  to  secure 
for  the  feeder  his  supplies  at  the  lowest  price. 
Naturally  when  the  man  goes  himself  to  the 
market  place  he  desires  to  make  his  purchase 
and  get  away  whether  conditions  seem  to  him 
just  right  or  not.  His  impatience  may  there- 
fore cost  him  dearly. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  set  a  price  that  you  are 
willing  to  pay  for  the  class  of  sheep  that  you 
decide  to  feed  and  carefully  describing  your 
wishes  state  the  case  to  your  commission  man, 
leaving  the  order  with  him  to  be  filled  when  he 
can.  It  may  happen  that  you  are  too  low  and 
your  bid  may  need  to  be  raised,  or  the  stuff 
may  cost  you  less  than  you  have  expected  to 
pay. 

Tlie  feeder  may  if  he  desires  go  in  person  to 
the  ranges  and  make  his  selections  there,  bring- 
ing his  purchases  directly  home.    Thus  he  will 


FLOCK  HUSBANDRY  IN  WESTERN  STATES.    255 

get  the  best  and  get  them  home  fresher  than  did 
they  lie  around  in  stock  yards  awaiting  pur- 
chasers. The  practical  disadvantage  of  this, 
however,  is  that  on  the  range  the  buyer  must 
pay  the  rancher's  price;  if  the  sheep  go  on  to 
market  he  sets  the  price  himself. 

It  is  especially  desirable  in  buying  on  the 
range  that  the  purchaser  should  take  care  to 
weigh  at  least  a  portion  of  the  stuff  and  make 
due  allowance  for  shrinkage  in  shipment,  else 
he  may  buy  very  dearly  without  being  aware. 
In  advising  the  feeder  to  beware  of  thin  Na- 
tive feeders  the  writer  is  aware  that  he  is  pre- 
judicing his  very  subject  and  aim,  the  building 
up  of  flocks  of  Natives  in  all  the  regions  east 
of  the  great  ranges.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  in  most  of  this  region  food  is  so 
abundant,  both  of  grass  and  grain,  that  ahuost 
any  sheep  in  health  will  be  fat  when  it  goes  to 
the  market,  and  therefore  snapped  up  eagerly 
by  the  killers,  except  those  that  are  parasitic 
and  therefore  difficult  to  make  fat.  He  hopes 
and  believes  that  the  day  will  come  when  this 
condition  will  be  overcome  and  sheep  will  be 
found  as  healthy  on  farms  as  on  ranges,  but 
even  then  they  will  go  fat  to  market  instead  of 
going  to  swell  the  supply  of  feeders. 

FEEDING  OF  LAMBS. 

Let  us  now  take  up  in  detail  the  work  of 
iamb  feeding,  having  by  this  time  purchased  our 
supply  of  feeders,  or  having  grown  them  our- 
selves. Methods  of  lamb  feeding  vary  widely 
according  to  the  district  where  they  are  fed.  We 
will  consider  the  several  wavs  in  detail. 


CHAPTER   IX. 


WESTERN  LAMB  FEEDING. 

PEA    FEEDING    IN    COLORADO. 

In  the  San  Luis  valley  of  Colorado  a  very 
curious  method  of  fattening  lambs  has  within 
recent  years  grown  to  large  proportions.  This 
valley  lays  very  high,  so  high  indeed  that  alfalfa 
does  not  thrive  as  it  does  elsewhere  in  the  irri- 
gated valleys  of  the  West.  But  Nature  evens 
up  things  and  here  is  found  the  natural  home  of 
the  tield,  or  Canadian,  pea.  The  soil  and  cli- 
mate seem  admirably  suited  to  the  growth  of 
peas.  Indeed  it  is  said  that  nowhere  else  in  the 
world  do  peas  thrive  so  well.  The  soil  is  some- 
what alkaline,  full  too  of  mineral  riches,  and  the 
abundant  irrigation  and  cool  mountain  air  as- 
sure a  good  growth  and  a  very  heavy  fruiting. 
The  methods  of  culture  are  easy  and  simple; 
after  being  drilled  into  the  soil  and  irrigated 
(sometimes  with  cultivation  and  sometimes 
without)  they  soon  cover  the  ground  and  need 
no  more  attention.  The  climate  is  so  dry  that 
the  crop  may  stand  sometimes  without  waste 
until  it  is  consumed.  The  harvesting  is  simple 
in  the  extreme.     Lambs  are  bought  and  turned 

(256) 


WESTERN  LAMB  FEEDING.  257 

in  where  they  remain  until  the  crop  is  harvested 
and  the  lambs  are  fat.  There  is  no  need  of  other 
forage  than  the  dried  pea  vines  give,  nor  of 
other  grain  than  the  peas.  Gains  on  this  ration 
are  very  large  and  the  quality  of  mutton  pro- 
duced unexcelled.  The  growth  of  this  new  in- 
dustry has  been  very  rapid  indeed,  since  prac- 
tically the  first  efforts  were  made  in  the  winter 
of  1901-1902,  when  about  3,000  lambs  were  fed, 
and  it  is  said  that  in  the  winter  of  1904-1905 
160,000  fat  lambs  left  the  San  Luis  and  adja- 
cent valleys  of  Colorado.  It  is  probable,  too, 
that  this  is  the  beginning  of  the  industry,  for 
there  are  doubtless  other  valleys  in  Colorado 
high  enough,  cool  enough  and  dry  enough  to 
grow  peas  well,  and  so  of  Utah,  Idaho  and  Wy- 
oming. 

CANADIAN  PEAS  FOK  LAMB  FEEDING. 

The  Canadian  field  pea  is  similar  to  the  com- 
mon garden  pea.  It  has  no  relationship  to  the 
southern  cow  pea.  The  Canadian  pea  thrives 
during  cool  and  moist  weather,  it  grows  a  large 
vine  and  sets  freely  with  peas.  All  animals 
relish  j)eas  which  are  not  only  delicious  to  the 
taste  but  very  nutritious.  Peas  are  very  rich 
in  protein,  having  in  fact  about  the  same  com- 
position as  milk,  minus  the  water.  Peas  are 
easily  digested. 

Not  all  regions  are  adapted  to  the  growth  of 
the  field  pea.  In  the  corn  belt  they  thrive  if  they 
can  be  sown  early  enough,  but  then  they  must 
be  promptly  fed  as  a  soiling  crop  or  else  cured 
into  hay.  Oats  and  peas  mixed  make  a  first 
rate  soiling  crop  and  have  been  much  used. 


258  SHEEP    FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

Late  sown  peas  in  warm  or  dry  regions  have 
Jittle  value.  The  great  pea  regions  are  in  Can- 
ada, in  northern  Michigan,  Wisconsin  and  Min- 
nesota. In  New  England  and  northern  New 
York,  and  now,  more  recently,  in  the  high  val- 
leys of  the  Bocky  mountains. 

PEAS  IN  THE  SAN  LUIS  VALLEY. 

The  ''Sunny  San  Luis"  is  a  wide  and  fertile- 
valley  about  7,500  feet  high  in  southern  Colo- 
rado. It  has  a  long,  cold  but  dry  and  sunny 
winter,  a  spring  lasting  for  most  of  the  rest  of 
the  year.  The  nights  are  always  cool  in  the 
San  Luis.  The  valley  is  abundantly  irrigated 
by  a  peculiar  system.  The  soil  is  soaked  by 
long  continued  furrow  irrigation  till  the  "sub" 
or  undersrrouncl  water  level  rises  nearly  to  the 
surface.  Thus,  even  in  a  dry  climate,  there  is 
moisture  in  abundance  for  the  coolness  and 
moisture  loving  peas. 

The  San  Luis  valley  was  primarily  devoted 
to  wheat  growing.  Peas  were  first  planted  to 
rebuild  the  depleted  soils.  This  they  did,  and 
incidentally  in  order  to  consume  some  of  them 
and  get  rid  of  them  sheep  were  turned  in.  The 
sheep  thrive  astonishingly.  When  lambs  were 
put  on  the  peas,  they  grew  fat  with  astonish- 
ingly little  care  or  expense.  Now  lambs  feed- 
ing on  peas  is  a  large  business  in  the  San  Luis 
valley  each  year. 

The  usual  method  is  to  grow  the  peas  by 
sowing  broadcast  and  letting  them  mature, 
turning  in  the  lambs  in  the  fall,  sometimes  as 
early  as  October,  sometimes  earlier.     The  lambs 


WESTERN   LAMB    FEEDING.  261 

gather  the  peas  from  the  vines  and  eat  more 
or  less  of  the  forage.  The  fields  are  nsually 
fenced  and  the  lambs  turned  loose,  from  500  to 
2,000  in  a  lot.  At  night  they  are  usually 
corralled  to  protect  them  from  coyotes. 

When  the  weather  remains  dry  there  is  no 
great  waste  of  peas  by  feeding  in  this  man- 
ner. With  snow,  however,  there  is  danger 
that  the  forage  will  become  greatly  damaged 
and  more  or  less  of  the  peas  lost. 

It  is  not  an  economical  way  to  utilize  peas  at 
best  because  the  lambs  travel  too  much  in  gath- 
ering them  and  by  their  restlessness  fail  to  put 
on  flesh  as  they  would  were  they  confined  to  a 
small  feed-lot.  The  advantage  of  feeding  the 
peas  where  they  grow  is,  however,  two-fold. 
There  is  saved  all  the  labor  of  harvesting  them 
and  the  manure  is  scattered  as  it  is  made  and 
thus  the  field  is  enriched.  Where  labor  is  scarce 
and  dear  as  it  often  is  in  Colorado  these  are 
important  considerations. 

There  is  another  way  that  makes  a  fair  com- 
promise between  harvesting  and  feeding  the 
peas  in  a  yard  and  letting  them  lie  where  they 
grow,  that  is  to  cut  them  with  a  mower  and 
cock  them  up  in  rather  large  cocks,  then  let- 
ting the  lambs  run  to  them.  It  would  seem  that 
this  was  a  good  scheme,  especially  if  the  lambs 
have  a  shepherd  with  a  dog  so  that  they  may  be 
kept  from  running  over  the  whole  field  at  one 
time.  There  would  be  practically  no  waste  in 
feeding  by  this  plan,  especially  as  pigs  would 
follow  the  lambs  and  pick  up  what  they  left  un- 
eaten. 


262  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

Undoubtedly  the  greatest  number  of  pounds 
of  mutton  could  be  gotten  from  an  acre  of  peas 
by  harvesting  them  and  stacking  them  as  alfal- 
fa is  stacked,  and  feeding  them  in  corrals  as  al- 
falfa fed  lambs  are  fed.  It  would  no  doubt  pay 
also  to  feed  some  supplementary  grain  in 
troughs,  so  as  to  let  the  lambs  consume  nearly 
all  of  the  pea  forage  and  still  have  grain 
enough  to  make  the  proportion  of  concentrates 
to  roughness  a  just  one.  In  this  manner  about 
twice  as  many  lambs  can  be  fattened  from  a 
field  of  peas  as  by  the  simple  process  of  leav- 
ing the  peas  lie  w^here  they  grow  and  the  lambs 
to  harvest  them  at  will. 

AMOUNT  OF  LAMB  MUTTON  FROM  AN  ACRE  OF  PEAS. 

The  pea  feeding  industry  is  yet  in  its  infancy, 
and  no  one  knows  exactly  what  can  be  done  with 
an  acre  of  peas.  Undoubtedly  the  greater  num- 
ber of  pea  feeders  fail  to  make  the  most  of  their 
opportunities  because  of  poor  methods.  They 
let  the  peas  damage  by  lying  in  the  snow,  or 
they  over-stick  and  have  not  enough  peas  to 
tinish  their  lambs,  or  they  let  the  lambs  run  off 
in  travel  and  lose  flesh  that  should  remain  on 
their  ribs.  Peas  gathered  and  fed  in  quiet 
should  give  about  these  results. 

An  acre  of  peas  may  yield  30  bushels  of 
shelled  peas.  Probably  that  is  above  the  aver- 
age yield,  yet  it  is  not  unusual  for  San  Luis 
peas  to  exceed  that.  A  bushel  of  peas  weighs 
64  lbs. 

An  acre  of  peas  in  the  San  Luis  valley  may 
yield  1,800  lbs.  of  shelled  peas.     This  is  doubt- 


WESTERN   LAMB    FEEDING.  263 

less  above  the  average,  but  many  surpass  that 
yield;  Peas  are  exceedingly  digestible  when 
fed  whole  to  lambs  so  it  is  probable  that  3,  or  at 
most  3^2  lbs.  of  peas  would  make  a  pound  of 
gain,  if  the  forage  was  good  and  the  conditions 
right.  Thus  an  acre  yielding  1,800  lbs.  of  peas 
should  make  from  500  to  600  lbs.  of  mutton. 

While  there  is  no  doubt  thati  some  careful 
feeders,  using  some  supplementary  grain  and 
feeding  in  corrals,  will  reach  this  high  mark, 
yet  at  present  under  the  easy  method  of  turn- 
ing the  lambs  directly  upon  the  peas,  not  more 
than  100  to  175  lbs.  of  Jamb  are  secured,  and 
about  100  lbs.  of  pork  from  the  pigs  that 
follow  the  lambs.  The  death  loss,  from  feed- 
ing peas  is  said  to  be  exceedingly  light.  The 
quality  of  the  mutton  so  produced  is  very  high. 
The  peas  also  greatly  enrich  the  ground  on 
which  they  grow.  The  best  method  of  feeding 
these  peas  would  seem  to  include  thought  to  put 
on  them  only  good  lambs  and  to  put  them  on  as 
early  as  the  peas  are  nearly  mature.  There 
will  always  be  a  demand  for  good  pea-fed  lambs 
at  a  premium  and  the  commoner  sorts  of  lambs 
should  be  fed  elsewhere.  There  are  other  re- 
gions where  peas  may  be  grown  and  fed  with 
profit  provided  they  are  harvested  and  stacked. 
There  are  few  places  where  the  winter  climate 
will  permit  feeding  them  on  the  ground  where 
they  grew  as  is  done  in  the  San  Luis  valley.  But 
there  are  many  high  parks  and  mountain  valleys 
in  Colorado,  Utah,  Idaho,  Wyoming,  Montana, 
and  other  western  states  where  peas  thrive  ad- 
mirably and  only  the  Winter's   snowfall  pre- 


264  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

vents  their  being  fed  as  readily  as  in  the  San 
Lnis  valley.  There  is  no  better  feed  for  old 
ewes,  or  for  lambing  ewes,  than  peas.  The 
whole  plant  has  a  similar  composition  to  milk, 
it  rebuilds  wasted  tissue  and  creates  new  flesh. 

ALFALFA-FED   COLORADO  LAMBS. 

The  front  range  of  the  Rockies  sends  forth  a 
number  of  refreshing  streams,  creeks  and  riv- 
ers, from  the  Animas  river  at  Trinidad  up  to  the 
Arkansas  in  middle  Colorado  and  the  forks  of 
the  Platte  at  Fort  Collins.  Early  in  the  settle- 
ment of  Colorado  it  was  learned  that  alfalfa 
grew  wonderfully  well  on  the  plains,  where, 
supplied  with  water  b}'  irrigation  the  difficulty 
seemed  to  be  to  use  the  alfalfa.  Finally  some 
man  tried  feeding  it  to  sheep,  then  to  lambs; 
grain  was  fed  with  it.  A  few  car-loads  of  the 
lambs  went  to  Eastern  markets ;  the  killers  tried 
them  and  pronounced  them  extraordinarily  good 
and  the  Colorado  lamb  industry  was  born. 

Colorado  lamb  feeding  has  had  its  ups  and 
downs.  In  the  winter  of  1898-1899  the  feed- 
ers lost  nearly  all  the  hay  they  put  into  the 
lambs,  getting  back  only  the  manure  and  pay 
for  the  corn  bought  in  Nebraska.  In  other 
years  they  have  made  very  large  profits.  At 
intervals  they  have  tried  feeding  other  things 
—calves,  wethers,  ewes  to  lamb— in  the  feed 
lot.  The  wethers  and  calves  are  mostly  elimi- 
nated now  and  lambs  are  fed  on  an  ever-in- 
creasing scale.  It  is  a  settled  industry,  not 
without  its  risks  yet  as  certain  of  profit  as  any 
feedins:  business  can  well  be. 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING.  265 

Colorado  lambs  are  the  product  of  Colorado 
alfalfa  and  Kansas  and  Nebraska  corn.  There 
is  sometimes  a  little  locally-grown  wheat  or 
barley  fed,  when  it  is  cheap  enough,  but  shelled 
corn  and  alfalfa  form  probably  95  per  cent  of 
the  foods  used. 

In  early  days  the  Colorado  feeders  depended 
almost  altogether  upon  the  lambs  of  New  Mex- 
ico and  southern  Colorado  for  a  supply  of  feed- 
ers. The  reputation  of  Fort  Collins'  lambs  was 
made  first  with  these  Mexicans.  In  more  re- 
cent years  lambs  have  come  there  from  other 
regions,  notably  from  Utah  and  Wyoming.  The 
process  of  feeding  lambs  in  Colorado  is  admir- 
ably simple.  There  are  yards  built  of  six-inch 
boards,  with  cracks  between  them  wide  enough 
to  permit  the  lambs  to  thrust  their  heads  in  and 
eat  between  them.  Hay  is  then  piled  along 
these  fences  right  on  the  ground  (which  is  usu- 
ally dry  in  that  sunny  clime)  and  the  lambs  eat 
it  standing  with  their  necks  through  the  fence. 
Two  or  three  times  a  day  men  go  along  and 
throw  the  hay  up  afresh.  The  hay  is  drawn 
from  great  ricks  standing  in  the  alfalfa  mead- 
ows. Little  of  it  is  ever  put  in  barns,  which 
hardly  exist  in  the  sense  that  they  are  used  in 
the  East. 

Grain  is  fed  in  flat-bottomed  troughs  in  the 
yards.  There  is  often  an  arrangement  of  yards 
so  that  one  may  be  used  as  a  feeding  yard  for 
two  or  more  pens.  In  that  way  the  grain  may 
be  put  in  before  the  sheep  are  admitted.  When 
the  2:ates  are  ODened  they  come  in  with  a  rush. 

When  first  the  lambs  are  received  they  are 


266 


SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 


carefully  dipped  and  then  given,  usually,  a  pre- 
paratory course  of  alfalfa  feeding  before  hav- 
ing any  grain.  When  they  are  introduced  to 
corn  it  is  fed  in  very  small  amounts,  slowly  and 
steadily  increased  until  finally  they  are  eating 
about  all  they  desire.     That  amount  will  be  be- 


RACKS   FOR   FEEDING  GRAIN. 
Photo  from  Wilcox,  1902  Year  Book,  Bureau  Animal  Indus..  U.  S.  Dept.  Agr 


tween  two  and  three  bushels  per  day  to  the  hun- 
dred head.  It  is  found  best  to  feed  corn  in  reg- 
ular rations  two  or  three  times  a  day  rather 
than  to  use  "self  feeders,"  such  as  are  used 
in  the  Northwest  for  feeding  light  screenings. 
These  self  feeders,  by  the  way,  are  merely  bins 
having  troughs  at  the  lower  edges  on  each  side, 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING, 


267 


with  narrow  openings  through  which  the  screen- 
ings descend. 

Very  few  of  the  Colorado  feed  yards  have 
sheds  attached  to  shelter  the  lambs.  Little 
rain  falls  and  the  snow  is  light  and  dry.  Wind- 
breaks are  found  desirable.    Water  is  pumped 


BOX   RACK   FOR  FEEDING  ALFALFA. 
From  Bulletin  31,  Bureau  Plant  Industry,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

by    wind    power    and    supplied  abundantly  in 
troughs,  which  are  kept  clean. 

Most  of  the  Colorado  lambs  are  sent  to  mar- 
ket with  their  fleeces  on.  The  gains  secured 
are  excellent,  lambs  weighing  55  lbs.  when  put 
on  feed  often  weighing  85  lbs.  when  ripe,  and 


268  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

better  gains  are  sometimes  secured.  They 
come  to  the  markets  of  Kansas  City,  Omaha  and 
Chicago  in  solid  train  loads,  and  owing  to  their 
good  quality  and  even  ripeness  they  sell  at  the 
top  of  the  market. 

There  seems  a  distinct  quality  of  goodness 
diffused  through  an  alfalfa-fed  lamb,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  make  as  good  on  any  other  ration. 
The  healthfulness  of  the  diet  is  attested  by  the 
very  great  evenness  of  lots  of  alfalfa-fed  lambs, 
though  this  is  in  part  accounted  for  by  the  reg- 
ularity and  moderation  of  the  feeding 

There  are  other  alfalfa  feeding  districts  in 
Kansas  and  Nebraska  where  the  business  is 
carried  on  very  much  as  in  Colorado,  having 
almost  as  good  weather  though  not  usually  as 
good  alfalfa.  This  is  owing  to  the  greater  lia- 
bility of  rain  falling  on  Nebraska  and  Kansas 
alfalfa  and  to  the  careless  methods  of  hay- 
makers caused  in  part  by  scarcity  of  labor. 
Corn  is  plentiful  in  these  feeding  yards  and  is 
sometimes  fed  with  greater  freedom  than  in 
Colorado,  though  without  corresponding  in- 
crease in  gain.  The  truth  is  that  a  lamb  can 
not  be  forced  as  a  pig  can  by  feeding  an  excess 
of  grain;  he  must  make  a  large  part  of  his 
growth  from  coarse  forage  and  over  feeding 
with  grain  is  a  dangerous  proposition. 

Then  there  are  regions  where  men  attempt 
to  fatten  lambs  with  wild  prairie  hay  or  sor- 
ghum, with  corn.  Large,  well-developed  lambs 
will  finish  fairly  well  on  such  rations,  though  at 
considerably  greater  cost  than  when  alfalfa  is 
fed. 


WESTERN  LAMB  FEEDING.  269 

Prof.  E.  A.  Burnett  of  the  Nebraska  Experi- 
ment Station  has  shown  that,  comparing  alfal- 
fa hay  and  prairie  hay  with  corn,  the  alfalfa-fed 
lambs  made  52  per  cent  greater  gains  than  the 
prairie  hay-fed  lambs.  The  addition  of  16  per 
cent  of  oilmeal  to  the  grain  ration  of  the  prai- 
rie hay-fed  lambs  increased  their  gain  26  per 
cent. 

The  writer  has  often  demonstrated  in  his  own 
practice  that  lambs  can  not  be  fed  with  much 
profit  without  a  large  amount  of  protein  in  the 
ration,  and  alfalfa  or  clover  is  the  best  and 
cheapest   carrier   of   available  protein. 

In  Nebraska  and  elsewhere  lambs  are  quite 
frequently  turned  directly  into  fields  of  stand- 
ing corn  and  permitted  to  do  their  own  har- 
vesting. Sometimes  rape  is  sown  in  the  corn 
at  time  of  last  cultivation  to  add  to  their  sup- 
ply of  forage.  Two  to  four  pounds  per  acre  of 
rape  seed  are  sufficient  It  is  better  to  let  this 
last  cultivation  be  fairly  early  so  as  to  give  the 
rape  a  start.  Should  the  season  prove  show- 
ery the  rape  will  come  on  and  add  greatly  to  the 
value  of  the  feed. 

There  are  certain  points  to  be  observed  in 
pasturing  down  corn  with  lambs.  It  is  not  a 
practice  adapted  to  feeding  very  thin,  light 
larDbs,  since  they  require  too  long  a  feeding  sea- 
son. It  is  not  a  good  practice  in  a  wet  re- 
gion, or  on  a  soil  readily  tramped  into  mud 
and  damaged  thereby.  Once  the  lambs  are  ac- 
customed to  the  corn  they  should  not  be  taken 
away  from  it  else  they  will  on  return  overeat 
and  die  in  consequence.  Salt  should  be^  before 
them  at  all  times. 


270  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

The  writer  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  one 
valuable  feature  of  this  practice  is  the  cheap- 
ness of  its  execution.  There  is  certainly  some 
waste,  unless  pigs  follow  the  lambs,  and  in  some 
instances  at  least  there  is  a  high  death  rate  ow- 
ing to  the  impossibility  of  limiting  the  amount 
of  corn  eaten.  However,  as  a  usual  thing  the 
lambs  learn  slowly  to  eat  tlie  corn,  finding  it 
hard  to  shell,  and  do  not  founder. 

Mature  sheep  are  sometimes  turned  into  the 
cornfields  to  glean  their  own  harvest.  There 
is  probably  more  danger  of  founder  in  old 
sheep  than  in  lambs,  since  they  the  more  read- 
ily begin  to  eat  the  ears.  It  may  be  said  here 
that  it  is  unsafe  to  turn  Native  sheep  in  the 
cornfields,  as  being  accustomed  to  corn  they 
will  get  too  much  of  the  grain,  while  their  West- 
ern kindred  will  take  more  readily  to  the  fod- 
der. 

In  conclusion  it  may  be  said  that  the  Western 
feeders  have  very  great  advantages  in  their 
cheap  and  abundant  forage  and  grain  and  their 
mild,  sunny  climate  They  achieve  success  by 
close  attention  to  details;  the  lambs  are  fed 
with  very  great  regularity  as  to  time  and 
amount.  One  man  will  feed  2,500  or  more,  so 
the  labor  cost  is  light. 

Their  disadvantage  is  in  their  remoteness 
from  market,  entailing  higher  freights,  and  in 
the  speculative  character  of  the  Western  men 
which  leads  many  of  them  to  jump  from  one 
industry  to  another,  feeding  few  lambs  one  year 
and  very  many  the  next,  jumping  often  just  at 
the  riolit  time    to    fail    to  alight  on  their  feet. 


WESTERN    LAMB    FEEDING.  271 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas 
few  farmers  feed  their  own  grain  and  hay, 
preferring  to  sell  it  to  great  operators  who  feed 
in  central  plants  many  thousands  of  sheep  and 
lambs.  Thus  is  the  manure  lost  to  the  farms 
that  will  some  day  need  it,  and  mountains  of 
richness  are  heaped  up  outside  of  feeding  cor- 
rals to  prove  an  embarrassment  to  the  owner. 
This  system  is  wrong  and  invites  disaster.  The 
man  who  produces  the  food  should  feed  it  at 
home.  A  man  can  afford  to  devote  his  time  to 
500  sheep  or  lambs  in  winter;  thus  he  has  left 
on  the  farm  most  of  the  fertility  taken  from  it  in 
crops  and  can  readily  return  it  to  his  fields. 
Feeding  his  own  crops  he  runs  small  risk  of  loss 
in  his  operations 

FEEDING   MILL  SCREENINGS. 

Minnesota  is  the  great  state  at'  present  for 
feeding  screenings.  These  .  screenings  come 
from  the  great  mills  along  the  upper  Missis- 
sippi and  elsewhere.  They  contain  a  little 
shrunken  wheat,  a  good  deal  of  weed  seed, 
largely  of  pigeon  grass,  and  bits  of  straw  and 
trash.  There  are  many  thousands  of  tons 
of  screenings  available  every  year.  Most 
of  this  material  is  used  by  the  large 
sands  of  tons  of  screenings  available  every 
year.  Most  of  this  material  is  used  by  the  large 
operators,  who  feed  from  a  few  to  many  thou- 
sands. They  generally  use  sheds  provided  with 
self-feeding  bins  holding  many  bushels  of 
screenings.    The  management  of  one  of  their 


272  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

plants  is  admirably  simple;  the  lambs  are 
bought,  usually  of  a  fairly,  good  size  and  qual- 
ity, dipped  and  turned  into  the  sheds,  where  they 
remain  until  fat.  Usually  no  hay  is  fed  or  re- 
quired, the  bulky  nature  of  the  screenings  ren- 
dering them  all  sufficient  for  distending  the 
lamb  properly. 

At  one  time  large  profits  ensued  from  feeding 
lambs  on  screenings.  The  millers,  curiously 
enough,  became  aware  of  this  fact  and  began 
steadily  to  raise  the  price  of  screenings.^  As 
lamb  prices  advanced  so  did  screenings,  till  at 
this  writing  the  margin  is  not  large  and  a  bad 
year  would  wipe  it  out  altogether. 

SHEEP  FEEDING  IN  THE   CORN  BELT. 

In  the  corn  belt  proper  the  conditions  for 
feeding  are  good  generally  so  far  as  abundance 
of  food  is  concerned.  Corn  is  a  staple  and  must 
find  a  market.  Hay  is  readily  grown,  and  late 
experience  has  shown  that  wherever  there  is 
limestone  soil,  or  sweet  and  fertile  soil,  alfalfa 
may  be  grown.  Red  clover  is  usually  easily 
grown.  Thus  there  is  a  ready  source  of  food 
for  sheep. 

The  climate  is  another  matter.  Sheep  want 
dry  footing  and  dry  coats.  They  can  not  en- 
dure muddy  yards  and  wet  dripping  skies. 
Therefore  before  we  attempt  to  feed  lambs  we 
must  provide  a  somewhat  artificial  climate. 
This  is  done  with  shingles  to  turn  off  the  wet. 
Mature  sheep  are  very  often  fattened  altogeth- 
er in    open  yards   and   Western  Merinos  have 


WESTERN  LAMB  FEEDING. 


273 


fleeces  that  turn  rain  fairly  well,  but  lambs  in 
the  exposure  do  not  thrive  and  it  is  folly  to  at- 
tempt feeding  them  east  of  the  Missouri  river 
without  some  shelter  from  rain.  North  of  Illi- 
nois, however,  where  rains  are  infrequent  and 


CROSS-SECTION  OF  MODEL  SHEEP  BARN,  SHOWING  FRAME. 

snows  light  and  dry,  sheds  are  sometimes  dis- 
pensed with,  but  that  is  reall}^  outside  the  corn 
belt. 

The  character  of  the  barn  or  shed  used  is 


274 


SHEEP   FARMING    IN   AMERICA. 


not  essential  It  may  be  a  simple  roof  open  on 
two  or  three  sides,  to  which  hay  will  be  hauled 
on  wagons  from  ricks.  The  writer  has  such  a 
feeding  plant  and  uses  it  to  good  advantage, 
It  may  better  be  a  barn  of  two  stories,  the  upper 
one  stored  with  alfalfa  or  clover  hay.  On  the 
lower  or  ground  floor  the  lambs  are  *^fed.  Their 
part  should  be  eight  feet  high  in  the  clear,  all  in 


SIDE  VIEW  OF  MODEL  SHEEP  BARN,  SHOWING  DOORS. 

one  large  room,  which  may  be  divided  as  de- 
sired by  use  of  racks  or  movable  panels. 

Through  this  room  there  should  be  oppor- 
tunity to  drive  transversely  through  nearly  or 
quite  every  bent  or  space*  between  posts.  To 
accomplish  this  doors  must  constitute  the  whole 
length,  preferably  on  the  north  and  south  sides 
of  the  building,  which  may  well  stand  east  and 
west. 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING.  275 

Tims  the  two  sides  will  be  composed  entirely 
of  doors  so  far  as  the  lower  story  is  concerned. 
Doors  cost  little  more  than  ordinary  siding  to 
construct.  These  doors  should  be  divided  trans- 
versely at  a  height  of  about  four  feet.  The 
lower  half  will  swing  from  the  post  just  as  a 
gate  swings,  while  the  upper  half  will  be  hinged 
at  the  upper  side,  and  raise  up  outwardly.  Thus 
the  lower  part  of  the  door  may  remain  closed  to 
restrain  the  sheep,  while  the  upper  half  is  lifted 
to  admit  air  and  light.  And  air  may  be  admit- 
ted and  storms  kept  out,  the  outward  swing  of 
the  upper  door  throwing  drip  of  rain  away. 

These  upper  doors  will  in  mild  weather  be 
raised  high  and  left  up.  In  time  of  storm  or 
extreme  cold  they  may  be  closed  on  one  side  or 
the  other. 

An  abundance  of  fresh  air  is  absolutely  nec- 
essary to  the  lamb.  He  will  not  thrive  or  fat- 
ten well  without  it.  He  will  thrive  better  in  the 
open  field  than  in  a  close  foul-smelling,  un- 
ventilated  barn  or  shed. 

Nor  does  it  matter  much  after  being  once  on 
feed  whether  the  lamb  barn  is  warm  or  cold. 
In  truth  the  lambs  often  thrive  better  to  have  it 
moderately  cold.  It  is  not  necessary  or  best  to 
have  it  warm  enough  so  that  water  will  not 
freeze  within.  If  the  user  is  uncertain  whether 
he  will  remember  to  open  these  upper  doors  he 
had  better  not  hang  them  at  all,  but  leave  the 
space  open  instead.  The  cold  and  snow  that 
will  blow  in  will  do  less  injury  to  the  fattening 
lambs  than  the  deprivation  of  air  w^ould  do. 

The  barn  should  have  no  floor  save  the  nat- 


276  SHEEP  FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

ural  earth.  Water  troughs  of  concrete  are  best 
and  they  may  be  built  so  as  to  be  half  within 
and  half  outside  of  the  barn,  on  the  sunny  side. 
These  tanks  may  be  of  large  size,  thus  obviat- 
ing the  necessity  of  storage  tanks,  say  10x12 
feet  and  about  18  inches  deep.  It  is  of  no  use  to 
make  a  lamb's  drinking  trough  very  deep,  and 
in  fact  there  is  danger  that  they  may  drown  in 
a  deep  tank,  since  they  will  sometimes  jump 
into  it. 

The  amount  of  room  desirable  in  a  feeding 
barn  is  about  5  square  feet  to  a  lamb  aside  from 
the  racks.  In  practice  one  will  need  about  8 
square  feet  gross,  which  will  give  him  room  for 
his  racks.  To  feed,  then,  a  carload  or  350 
lambs,  he  needs  a  barn  about  36x72  feet.  Some 
feeders  crowd  the  lambs  more  than  that  but 
they  will  not  thrive  as  they  ought  nor  ripen 
evenly  unless  all  have  room  so  that  they  may 
eat  at  the  same  time. 

The  next  thing  is  the  feed  rack.  Various 
types  are  in  use  and  all  have  some  good  quali- 
ties. After  much  experience  with  various  types 
the  writer  finds  this  form  best  (see  illustration). 
It  is  made  of  two  1x6"  boards  spaced  24  inches 
apart,  with  ends  and  a  bottom  of  matched  pine 
flooring.  This  makes  a  shallow  box  or  feed 
trough.  At  the  corners  are  legs  of  2x2  inch 
stuff,  40  inches  high.  The  vertical  slats  are 
of  %-inch  stuff  3  inches  wide  and  are  spaced 
6%  inches  apart.  The  top  of  the  box  should 
be  about  12  inches  high.  In  this  rack  may  be 
fed  any  sort  of  grain  or  forage.  The  wide 
openings    between    the    slats    permit  sheep  to 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING. 


277 


thrust  their  heads  clear  in  and  there  they  will 
stand  quietly  eating  until  they  have  consumed 
the  ration  with  little  waste,  whereas  if 
the  vertical  slats  are  placed  close  together  the 
lambs  will  pull  the  hay  out,  dropping  it  be- 
neath their  feet.  This  is  a  cheap  form  of  rack, 
durable,  easily  made  and  as  effective  as  any. 
The  length  should  be  to  fit  well  with  the  type  of 
barn  used,  so  that  rows  of  these  racks  will,  when 
required,  make  divisions  or  fit  between  the 
posts  of  the  basement. 

Now,  with  the  feed  racks  in  place,  with  wa- 
ter, and  the  mow  above  stored  with  clover  or  al- 


e" 


1X6'  - 


TWO  VIEWS  OF  FEED-RACK. 


falfa  hay,  which  should  have  been  early  cut, 
we  are  ready  for  the  lambs.  First  a  word  about 
the  yard.  It  should  have  in  it  about  one  half 
greater  capacity  than  the  roof  covers,  not  more, 
and  if  it  can  be  sloping  all  the  better.  It  should 
be  well  graveled  with  rather  coarse  gravel, 
spread  smoothly.  If  it  can  be  concreted  all  the 
better,  since  it  will  then  be  very  easily  kept 
clean. 

The  reason  for  having  a  small  yard  is  so  that 
it  may  the  more  readily  be  kept  dry  and  clean, 
and  because  in  a  large  yard  there  is  too  much 


278  SHEEP  FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

waste  of  manure-  Lambs  in  the  fattening  pen 
do  not  need  much  exercise  and  are  the  better  not 
to  have  it. 

A  word,  too,  about  hay.  With  timothy  hay  in 
the  mow  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  fatten 
lambs.  Oat  straw  is  as  good,  or  as  bad. 
Bright  shredded  corn  stover  is  a  little  better, 
and  when  fed  in  connection  with  abundant 
wheat  bran  and  a  little  oilmeal  it  will  serve 
very  well.  Without  this  extra  supply  of  pro- 
tein shredded  corn  stover  will  not  profitably 
fatten  lambs. 

Now  let  us  bring  the  lambs  home.  They  come 
from  the  cars  half  famished,  though  there  are 
seldom  any  dead  ones  among  them.  What  a 
sight  it  is  to  see  them  devouring  the  grass  along 
the  roadside  as  they  go  from  the  station  to  the 
farm!  It  is  impossible  to  hurry  them,  nor 
should  one  attempt  it;  let  them  take  their  time. 
When  they  reach  the  farm  we  will  turn  them 
first  into  some  grass  pasture  where  there  is  wa- 
ter and  there  they  may  rest  for  two  days,  sup- 
posing it  to  be  yet  fair  and  dry  weather.  Then 
they  must  be  dipped,  unless  we  are  willing  to  ac- 
cept the  dipping  at  the  yards.  And  at  once  they 
go  to  their  pens  and  are  initiated  into  the  mys- 
teries of  barn  life.  We  will  put  about  500  in  a 
pen  or  what  the  barn  holds.  The  writer  feeds 
700  in  one  barn,  which  seems  not  to  be  too  many 
for  all  to  thrive.  There  must  be  racks  enough 
so  that  all  the  lambs  may  find  places  to  eat  at 
the  same  time. 

We  fill  the  racks  moderately  full  of  alfalfa 
hay  and  watch  the  lambs  eat  it.    At  first  they 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING.  279 

are  timid  about  going  into  the  barn,  but  soon 
they  find  their  way  about  and  learn  wliere  the 
food  is.  And  then  how  they  do  eat!  We  will 
feed  them  twice  a  day,  at  the  same  time  each 
day,  and  let  them  rest.  The  water  we  must 
watch,  that  it  is  kept  pure  enough  for  man  to 
drink  and  always  in  supply.  Salt  we  will  give 
at  first  by  dissolving  it  in  water  and  sprinkling 
it  over  the  hay;  it  may  be  put  on  the  coarse 
stems  that  they  leave.  After  doing  this  for  a 
few  days  we  will  find  their  appetite  for  salt 
satisfied ;  then  we  will  fill  a  box  with  salt  in  one 
corner  of  the  barn  and  let  them  have  access  to 
it  at  their  own  wall.  But  if  we  could  take  time 
and  trouble  to  put  brine  on  their  hay  all  through 
tne  feeding  season  that  would  be  the  better  way, 
making  them  eat  the  coarser  parts  with  relish 
and  avoiding  all  danger  from  getting  too  much 
salt.  There  is,  however,  little  danger  of  that 
if  the  lambs  are  first  carefully  introduced  to  it 
until  their  appetite  is  appeased,  then  given  ac- 
cess to  it  at  all  times.  On  Woodland  Farm  it  is 
the  custom  to  roll  salt  barrels  into  the  barn  and 
saw  out  two  or  three  staves,  letting  the  sheep 
consume  it  as  their  appetite  indicates  they 
should.  But  when  the  writer  fed  his  lambs  in 
person  he  preferred  the  brining  method. 

We  will  feed  no  grain  at  all  for  the  first  two 
weeks,  unless  the  lambs  chance  to  be  unusually 
vigorous  and  therefore  able  to  take  it  sooner. 
It  is  wise  to  let  the  lambs  get  their  strength  be- 
fore attempting  to  feed  them  grain,  to  which 
they  are  not  accustomed. 

In    some    cases    the    lambs  will  be  so  weak 


280  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

when  they  have  found  their  journey's  end  that 
it  will  be  wise  to  strengthen  them  by  feeding  a 
little  wiieat  bran  in  connection  with  the  clover 
or  alfalfa  hay.  There  is  scarcely  anything  more 
readily  digested  and  strengthening  than  wheat 
bran  and  it  seems  especially  suited  to  the  needs 
of  the  lamb.  In  truth,  the  one  reason  why  the 
writer  is  not  using  it  and  advocating  it,  is  its 
heavy  cost,  now  that  the  dairymen  have  learned 
that  they  must  have  it. 

In  former  years,  before  they  had  much  alfal- 
fa hay  and  when  bran  was  far  cheaper  than 
now,  the  writer  and  his  brothers  fed  many 
tons  of  it  to  lambs  with  very  gratifying  results. 
They  made  it  profitable  to  feed  it,  though  later 
when  they  had  abandoned  it  for  alfalfa  hay 
produced  on  their  ow^n  farm,  the  profits  of  lamb 
feeding  were  greatly  increased. 

The  cost  of  growing  lamb  mutton  in  the  days 
when  timothy  hay,  oat  straw  and  shredded  corn 
stover  w^ere  used  in  connection  with  wheat  bran 
and  oilmeal  for  the  ration,  w^ith  corn,  was 
about  $6.25  per  hundred  pounds.  Afterward, 
when  the  only  feeds  used  were  alfalfa  hay  and 
ear  corn,  the  cost  dropped  to  $3.50  per  hun- 
dred. 

There  are  troubles  that  come  to  weak  West- 
ern lambs  upon  their  first  introduction  to  the 
Eastern  feed  lot.  Sometimes  they  develop  sore 
mouths  in  a  very  contagious  form.  The  rem- 
edy is  to  rub  off  the  scabs  with  a  corn  cob  and 
cover  the  sore  places  with  a  little  undiluted  coal 
tar  sheep  dip.  This  remedies  the  disorder  in 
short  order.     It  is  wise  to  take  it  in  hand  earlv. 


2    ^ 

P     o 
5     t^ 


WESTERN  LAMB  FEEDING.  283 

Sometimes,  if  the  yards  are  a  bit  muddy,  sore 
feet  develop.  These  ought  to  be  promptly 
treated,  either  with  blue  vitriol  or  butter  of  an- 
timony and  the  yard  made  dry.  Air-slaked, 
dry  lime  scattered  where  they  will  get  it  on 
their  feet  will  help. 

Now  we  have  the  lambs  used  to  their  new 
home  and  fed  up  on  alfalfa  until  they  are 
strong  again;  we  are  ready  to  introduce  them 
to  grain  feeding.  It  is  a  good  practice  to  turn 
them  out  of  doors  while  we  put  in  feed  for 
them,  leaving  them  out  until  the  racks  are  all 
filled.  If  oats  are  plentiful  and  cheap  enough 
we  can  give  the  first  grain  food  of  oats,  mixed 
with  bran.  There  is  nothing  better  than  this. 
Scatter  the  grain  very  thinly  along  the  bottoms 
of  the  racks,  having  first  cleaned  them  out  well. 
A  quart  to  a  rack  will  be  an  abundance,  less  will 
be  better. 

Put  the  hay  in  after  the  grain,  loosely.  Be 
careful  with  nice  bright  early-cut  clover  and 
alfalfa  not  to  feed  too  much ;  they  will  waste  it. 
They  may  as  well  eat  it  up  almost  clean. 

Let  the  lambs  come  in.  Throw  open  several 
wide  doors  at  one  time  so  that  they  will  not 
crowd.  Little  by  little  they  will  learn  the  taste 
of  the  grain.  Do  not  increase  the  amount  fed 
until  you  feel  certain  that  most  of  them  are 
seeking  it.  Then  let  your  increase  be  very  grad- 
ual. 

Corn,  in  the  cornbelt,  must  be  the  main  part 
of  the  fattening  ration.  Now  to  introduce  that. 
Take  ear  corn,  if  it  is  at  hand,  and  chop  the 
ears  up  with  a  hatchet  into  nubbins  about  an 


284  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

inch  long.  Strew  a  few  of  these  nubbins  in 
each  rack.  Next  feeding  time  strew  in  a  few 
more.  Increase  very,  very  slowly  as  they  learn 
to  eat  the  corn,  till  you  are  giving  them  several 
ears  to  a  rack.  Cut  the  bits  longer  and  longer, 
till  at  last  you  are  merely  making  two  pieces  of 
an  ear.  Finally  stop  breaking  ears  at  all,  and 
feed  them  whole. 

You  should  be  about  45  days  in  getting  them 
on  to  what  is  practically  a  full  feed  of  corn. 
And  then  do  not  give  them  all  they  want,  but 
give  them  nearly  all.  If  when  on  full  feed 
they  are  eating  as  much  as  they  desire  within 
a  very  few  grains  you  have  done  well.  Be 
sure  they  clean  it  all  up  at  every  feed  and  come 
eagerly  for  more  at  the  next  feeding  time. 

Now  when  they  have  gotten  to  eating  corn  well 
you  may  as  well  drop  the  bran  and  oats,  merely 
because  of  the  expense  of  feeding  them,  since 
oats  are  usually  dear.  If  they  are  cheap  enough 
continue  to  feed  them,  and  so  of  barley,  in  con- 
nection with  corn;  they  form  an  admirable  ra- 
tion. If  a  portion  of  the  hay  must  be  prairie 
hay,  oat  hay  or  timothy,  in  fact  any  grass  not  a 
clover,  you  can  not  discard  bran,  since  there  is 
too  little  protein  in  the  grasses  to  make  the 
lambs  grow.  They  need  to  make  a  lot  of  flesh 
and  bone,  too,  besides  the  fat.  If  you  have  them 
to  sjDare  feed  a  small  amount  of  soy  beans  in 
connection  with  corn.  Soys  are  rich  in  protein, 
some  varieties  having  above  35  per  cent.  And 
the  soy  straw,  if  it  has  not  been  wet,  is  relished 
though  too  coarse  to  be  eaten  clean.     Oilmeal 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING.  285 

in  connection  with  bran,  where  grasses  or  corn 
stover  form  the  hay,  works  admirably. 

There  is  more  clean  profit,  however,  in  feed- 
ing the  simple  ration  of  alfalfa  hay  and  ear  corn 
and  nothing  else,  unless  corn  silage.  No  feed 
will  make  better  or  more  marketable  lambs. 

Once  on  fnll  feed  the  programme  should  be 
an  unvarying  one.  At  some  regular  time  in  the 
morning,  not  too  early,  say  half  an  hour  after 
sunrise,  the  lambs  should  have  their  morning 
feed.  The  water  should  be  looked  after  and 
the  lambs  allowed  peacefully  to  consume  their 
allowance.  Shortly  after  noon  they  will  lie 
down  to  rest  and  sleep.  Do  not  ever  disturb 
them;  assimilation  takes  place  best  when  they 
are  asleep.  Try  to  feed  hay  with  judgment,  so 
that  they  eat  it  nearly  all  and  yet  have  enough. 

At  about  four  in  the  afternoon  begin  feeding 
again.  Later  will  serve,  so  you  observe  the 
same  time  each  day.  Feed  just  as  you  did  in 
the  morning. 

One  hundred  lambs  will  eat  about  2i/>  bush- 
els of  corn  daily  when  on  full  feed,  unless  they 
are  very  small  lambs.  A  thousand  lambs  will 
eat  more  than  a  ton  of  hay  daily.  It  will  take 
about  2%  bushels  of  corn  to  fatten  a  lamb  and 
12  to  20  tons  of  hay  to  the  hundred  lambs,  de- 
pending on  how  long  they  are  kept. 

Soon  the  stems  of  hay  will  accumulate  in  the 
barn  and  make  a  good  bed.  The  corn  should 
be  cut  and  the  stalks  fed  in  the  open  yard, 
which  will  thus  be  kept  dry  and  clean.  The 
blades  of  the  corn  will  be  pulled  off  and  eaten 
and  the  hay  thus  helped  out. 


286 


SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA= 


Soon  the  manure  spreader  must  be  started 
taking  ont  the  accumulatmg  manure  from  the 
shed.  Every  day  a  few  loads  may  be  hauled 
away  and  spread  on  the  frozen  ground;  thus 
there  is  avoided  the  accumulation  of  a  vast 
amount  of  manure  to  be  cleared  away  at  one 


SHEEP  WAGONS. 
Photo  from  Wilcox,  Annual  Report  B.  A.  1. 1902,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Agr. 


time  in    spring    when    every    sort  of   work  is 
crowding. 

Late  in  March  the  lambs  may  be  shorn,  if 
they  have  not  already  gone  to  market,  and  the 
feeding  continued  for  a  little  time  thereafter. 
When  they  are  ripe  they  should  go  to  market, 
otherwise  losses  are  likely  to  follow,  not  from 


WESTERN   LAMB    FEEDING.  287 

disease  but  from  disorders  favored  by  too 
plethoric  a  condition. 

With  small  lambs  it  requires  at  least  120 
days  to  ripen.  With  larger  and  more  fleshy 
ones  less  time  is  required.  With  very  small 
lambs  in  thin  flesh  180  days  are  none  too  many 
to  induce  ripeness.  The  latter  part  of  the  feed- 
ing period  gives  the  most  profit,  since  gains  are 
better  than  at  the  beginning  when  the  lambs 
were  unused  to  feed. 

It  is  cheaper  to  ship  the  lambs  to  market 
clipped,  since  many  more  can  ride  in  a  car  and 
the  freight  is  no  more. 

When  the  lambs  are  uneven  in  size  it  is  likely 
that  some  will  ripen  before  the  rest.  In  this 
case  a  carload  may  often  be  sent  on  and  the 
rest  allowed  to  ripen  further. 

The  writer  has  sometimes  made  lambs  fed  in 
this  manner  gain  nearly  100  per  cent  in  weight. 
It  is  a  pleasant  business  and  in  the  long  run 
profitable.  Sometimes  a  year  w^ill  come  when 
the  price  of  feeders  is  too  high  in  proportion 
to  the  selling  price  of  lambs  and  one  must  fig- 
ure on  the  value  of  the  manure  to  find  his 
profit. 

In  recent  3?"ears  the  writer  has  varied  the 
treatment  outlined  by  feeding  corn  silage  in 
connection  with  ear  corn  and  alfalfa  hay.  This 
silage  is  made  from  well  matured  corn,  so  that 
it  makes  a  sweet  silage,  containing  little  acid 
and  having  in  it  no  mould.  Lambs  eat  this 
greedily  and  seem  to  grow  much  more  rapidly 
than  when  it  is  withheld.  About  2yo  to  3 
pounds  of  silage  makes  a  ration  for  a  day  to  a 


288  SHEEP   FARMING    IN   AMERICA. 

lamb.  The  writer  believes  this  cheapens  the  ra- 
tion materially  and  perhaps  the  mutton  is  bet- 
ter; he  thinks  it  is  and  has  had  no  difficulty  in 
securing  the  top  price  for  his  alfalfa-silage« 
corn-fed  lambs.  When  corn  is  made  into  silage 
after  it  is  well  matured  there  is  of  course  a  very 
large  proportion  of  grain  thereon  and  it  is 
tender  and  succulent  and  much  relished  by  the 
lambs.  The  small  amount  of  acid  in  the  silage 
is  lactic  acid,  promotive  of  digestion. 

Silage  has  been  fed  to  breeding  ewes  with  ex- 
cellent results  when  it  was  of  good  quality  and 
fed  judiciously.  When  it  has  been  acid,  or  when 
in  immoderate  amounts,  disaster  has  followed 
its  use. 

In  some  instances  that  have  come  under  the 
writer's  observation  great  losses  have  come 
from  attempting  to  feed  silage  exclusively  to 
breeding  ewes.  They  did  well  for  a  time,  then 
went  swiftly  to  ruin,  much  of  it  irretrievable. 
Loss  has  also  come  from  feeding  acid  silage. 

A  silo  should  not  be  built  with  cemented, 
water-tight  floor.  On  such  a  floor  the  silage 
becomes  very  acid  and  trouble  follows  when  it 
is  fed  to  sheep.  The  natural  earth  makes  the 
best  floor  for  a  silo. 

Never  with  sheep  should  silage  form  more 
than  half  the  ration.  If  this  rule  is  observed 
and  the  silage  is  made  from  well  matured  corn, 
planted  no  thicker  than  for  the  regular  crop,  it 
is  believed  that  none  but  good  results  will  ever 
follow  its  use. 

Lambs  will  not  consume  quite  all  the  coarser 
parts  of  the  silage.    These  must  be  thrown  un- 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING.  '^^9 

der  foot  or  cleaned  out  and  fed  to  cows.  The 
writer  has  seen  great  loss  from  feeding  the  re- 
fused portions  of  silage  to  horses.  In  one  in- 
stance where  quite  a  heap  of  it  had  accumu- 
lated in  the  barnyard  eleven  horses  and  mules 
ate  of  it.  Eleven  of  them  died.  There  is  evi- 
dently some  principle  developd  in  silage  after 
it  has  been  exposed  to  the  air,  perhaps,  that  is 
most  unfavorable  to  horses.  They  die  with 
symptoms  resembling  spinal  meningitis.  There 
will  be  death  loss  among  feeding  lambs  no  mat- 
ter how  carefully  they  are  fed.  Care  will 
greatly  reduce  this  loss,  however.  Tbe  writer 
has  had  as  low  as  2  per  cent  and  as  high  as  8 
per  cent.  If  no  more  than  4  jDer  cent  of  loss  is 
sustained  no  one  need  shed  tears. 

Attention  to  regularity  in  feeding,  care  that 
no  doors  or  gates  are  left  open  to  admit  lambs 
to  feed  bins,  and  always  feeding  well  under  the 
gauge  of  the  appetite  will  usually  keejD  the 
death  loss  very  low.  With  Western  lambs 
there  is  sometimes  danger  of  their  jumping 
into  water  tanks  if  they  have  access  thereto. 
The  feeder  should  be  careful  that  no  sudden 
fright  causes  them  to  stampede  in  the  barn  and 
]3ile  up,  which  may  smother  a  number. 

There  is  seldom  any  good  accomplished  by 
treating  with  medicine  sick  lambs  in  the  feed 
lot,  unless  for  stomach  worms.  These  should 
be  cleaned  out  before  the  feeding  begins.  The 
writer  has  probably  lost  his  full  share  of  lambs 
and  has  tried  various  remedial  treatments,  but 
is  not  aware  that  he  ever  helped  one.  Death, 
in  fact,  usually  comes  from  some  inflammation 


290  SHEEP  FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

of  the  intestinal  tract,  caused  by  engorgement 
of  rich  food,  and  medicine  only  aggravates  the 
trouble. 

There  will  occasionally  be  loss  from  gid,  or 
turnsick,  which  is  caused  by  a  bladder  worm 
parasite  in  the  brain.  There  is  no  practical 
remedy  for  this,  though  the  lamb  when  first 
observed  will  make  good  mutton. 

With  regular,  rational  treatment  the  lambs 
will  keep  in  health  and  when  occasionally  one 
dies  the  owner  must  console  himself  by  thinking 
of  the  99  well  ones,  meantime  taking  off  the 
pelt,  salting  it  well  and  feeding  the  fresh  car- 
cass to  his  pigs  or  chickens. 

The  writer  does  not  believe  it  necessary  for 
lambs  to  be  out  in  their  yards  during  day  or 
night,  so  the  barn  or  shed  is  as  thoroughly  aired 
as  he  has  directed.  When  they  are  confined 
their  urine  is  saved  and  the  value  of  the  manure 
greatly  increased.  Kich  green  fields  spring  up 
as  by  magic  about  the  lamb  feeding  plant  and 
when  off  years  come  and  little  direct  money 
profit  is  seen  the  feeder  can  console  himself  if 
he  has  husbanded  wisely  his  stores  of  manure 
by  seeing  the  corn  reaching  toward  heaven  and 
flaunting  its  banners  of  deepest,  darkest  green, 
while  following  the  corn  are  fine  meadows,  of 
alfalfa  or  clover. 

When  lambs  are  fed  long,  until  after  green 
grass  comes  in  spring,  it  is  a  temptation  to  turn 
them  out  to  graze  for  a  time.  This  is  a  mis- 
taken practice,  sure  to  result  in  great  loss.  The 
lambs  will  not  continue  to  gain  on  grass,  even 
though  fed  their  grain  as  usual,  at  least  there 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING.  291 

will  be  a  period  of  reaction  when  they  will  actu- 
ally lose  flesh,  though  if  the  practice  be  con- 
tinued long  enough  they  will  gain  it  back  again. 
It  is  more  profitable  to  send  them  to  market 
right  from  their  dry  lot. 

Sometimes,  however,  lambs  are  bought  in  the 
spring  with  the  expectation  of  feeding  them  off 
on  grass,  with  corn.  This  may  prove  a  satis- 
factory enterprise,  if  it  is  carefully  managed. 
The  troughs  should  be  placed  in  a  yard  or  tem- 
porary corral  in  the  pasture  and  when  grain  is 
put  in  them  the  entire  flock  must  be  called  or 
driven  within  and  fastened  there  for  a  sufficient 
time  for  them  to  consume  their  ration.  They 
may  then  be  loosened  and  permitted  to  roam 
where  they  will  until  the  next  feeding  time 
arrives. 

The  feeder  must  see  to  it  that  every  lamb 
comes  up  every  time.  Otherwise  he  will  have 
cases  of  indigestion  and  founder;  many  will 
get  off  their  feed. 

Sometimes  self-feeders  are  used  on  pasture. 
They  seldom  result  well,  owing  to  the  essen- 
tially short  memory  and  weak  original  impulse 
of  the  lamb.  He  will  not  leave  his  fellows  to 
go  for  feed  when  he  is  hungry,  and  when  he 
does  reach  the  feeder  he  is  apt  to  gorge  himself 
thereafter  declining  to  eat  at  all. 

USE  OF  SELF-FEEDEES. 

The  writer  has  used  self-feeders  in  past  years 
in  his  feeding  barns  and  discarded  them  en- 
tirely.    Various  tests  have  shown  that  not  only 


292  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

is  the  death  loss  much  heavier  where  self-feed- 
ers are  used  for  corn  but  the  cost  of  gains  is 
also  much  greater.  If  bran  is  fed  it  may  be  fed 
in  a  self-feeder^  though  of  course  this  requires 
the  use  of  considerable  bran,  and  light  screen- 
ings are  well  enough  fed  in  that  manner,  but  for 
corn,  barley  or  wheat,  troughs  and  regular  ra- 
tions are  safer  and  better. 

FEEDING   BEET    PULP. 

Nearness  to  sugar  factories  gives  oppor- 
tunity to  utilize  the  waste  product  called  beet 
pulp.  This  pulp  is  an  excellent  food  but  con- 
tains 90  per  cent  of  water.  Therefore  like  si- 
lage,, it  is  not  well  to  feed  it  without  dry  grain 
being  added  to  the  ration,  as  well  as  dry  forage. 
A  ton  of  pulp  contains  about  the  same  feeding 
value  as  200  lbs.  of  corn.  This  would  indicate 
what  the  farmer  can  aif ord  to  pay  for  pulp,  a 
very  small  amount  indeed  when  he  must  count 
the  cost  of  hauling  and  feeding.  It  is  doubtless 
a  healthful  addition  to  the  ration  but  experi- 
ments show  that  pulp  alone  with  alfalfa  hay 
does  not  make  as  good  lambs  as  corn  and  al- 
falfa. 

There  is  little  bone  material  in  beet  pulp, 
therefore  lambs  fed  on  it  are  said  to  suffer  that 
lack.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  alfalfa 
would  make  good  this  deficiency.  The  prac- 
tical objection  to  feeding  beet  pulp  in  cold 
weather  is  its  freezing,  or  its  liability  to  make 
the  yards  damp 

The    quality   of   meat   from    these    pulp-fed 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING.  295 

lambs  is  very  good,  though  they  do  not  stand 
shipment  so  well  as  the  corn-fed  lambs. 

CAUSES  OF  DEATH  IN  THE  FEED-LOT. 

Lambs  born  east  of  the  Missouri  river  are 
often  infested  with  stomach  worms.  In  buying 
them  in  the  fall  to  put  on  feed  only  the  thin 
ones  can  be  secured,  and  these  are  almost  cer- 
tainly infested.  These  lambs  will  die  rapidly 
in  the  feed  lot  unless  they  are  thoroughly  treated 
to  eradicate  the  worms. 

Lambs  free  from  parasites  should  not  die. 
When  they  do  it  is  because  of  some  mistake  in 
their  management,  or  some  accident. 

The  heaviest  losses  that  ever  occurred  to  the 
writer  came  from  feeding  a  large  amount  of  oat 
hay,  not  well  cured,  and  on  which  had  been  put 
too  much  salt  in  an  effort  to  keep  it  from  mould- 
ing. Very  many  lambs  die  from  affections  of 
the  bladder  causing  retention  of  urine,  or  ^'wa- 
ter belly."  There  is  some  evidence  that  the 
too  free  use  of  oat  hay  will  cause  this. 

Many  lambs  are  lost  from  indigestion  caused 
by  feeding  too  much  grain,  or  by  introducing 
them  too  suddenly  to  grain.  Seventy-five  per 
cent  of  all  the  lambs  dying  in  the  feed  lot  die 
from  indigestion  caused  by  over-eating  of  grain. 

In  investigating  the  causes  of  death  losses 
the  writer  has  found  these  significant  illustra- 
tions. One  man  fed  his  lambs  in  the  sheds, 
feeding  corn,  clover  hay  and  corn  silage.  He 
did  not  feed  too  much  grain,  but  he  did  not  turn 
the  lambs  out  when  he  fed  them.  Thus  some  of 
the  lambs  began  eating  sooner  than  the  others 


296  SHEEP   FARMING   IN    AMEIUCA. 

and  naturally  ate  too  mucli.  Another  man  had 
heavy  losses  because  his  lambs  had  not  enough 
good  hay  and  too  much  mouldy  ensilage.  Had 
they  had  a  sufficiency  of  hay  it  is  doubtful  if 
they  would  have  eaten  the  mouldy  portions  of 
the  silage.  It  is  not  well  to  feed  mouldy  silage 
to  any  animals.  We  have  lost  lainbs  through 
the  carelessness  of  feeders  in  leaving  the  gran- 
ary door  open.  We  have  lost  lambs  from  an 
awkward  arrangement  of  our  sheds^  having  an 
L  with  a  long  and  narrow  extension.  This  pre- 
v^ented  perfect  distribution  of  the  lambs.  Some- 
thing frightened  the  lambs  from  the  L,  maybe  a 
house  cat,  or  a  rai  or  barn  fowl,  and  they 
fled  to  the  main  part  of  the  shed  soon  after  they 
were  turned  to  their  feed.  A  few  ventured 
and  ate  too  much  corn.  They  died.  The  writer 
has  had  a  death  loss  of  less  than  1  per  cent,  and 
as  high  as  6  per  cent.  No  one  need  feel  dis- 
heartened at  a  loss  of  three  per  cent  between 
purchase  and  sale. 

To  absolutely  prevent  loss  it  is  quite  neces- 
sary to  start  with  healthy  lambs;  to  rest  them 
and  begin  by  feeding  very  moderately,  using 
good  clover  or  alfalfa  hay  as  the  basis  of  their 
ration  and  to  introduce  them  to  corn  very' 
slowly  and  gradually;  to  increase  the  ration  so 
slowly  that  they  will  be  unaware  of  the  change 
—to  feed  always  with  perfect  regularity  and 
always  a  little  less  grain  than  they  will  con- 
sume and  to  give  attention  to  veiy  thorough 
ventilation  and  the  supply  of  pure  water.  The 
salt  supply  should  be  always  conveniently  avail- 
able.    Nothing  should  ever  frighten  the  lambs. 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING.  297 

Stampeding  them  will  often  cause  death.  When 
lambs  are  lying  down  they  should  never  be  dis- 
turbed.    They  fatten  most  while  reclining  and 

asleep. 

PEAS  FOR  LAMBS. 

In  some  regions  where  the  Canada  field  peas 
thrive,  or  near  the  factories  where  split  peas 
are  prepared,  peas  or  pea  refuse  is  available  for 
lamb  feeding.  There  is  nothing  better.  Lambs 
grow,  thrive  and  fatten  admirably  on  this  food. 
With  peas  for  the  grain  ration  it  is  not  so  ma- 
terial that  alfalfa  be  fed,  since  peas  are  exceed- 
ingly rich  in  protein. 

THE  BUSINESS  OF  LAMB   FEEDING. 

The  writer  thinks  it  unnecessary  to  ask 
13ardon  for  thus  devoting  so  many  pages  to  the 
description  of  the  lamb  feeding  industry,  based 
on  Western  lambs,  corn  and  alfalfa. 

It  is  easy  to  see  from  the  immensity  of  the 
ranges  and  the  constant  supply  of  lambs  coming 
from  them,  together  with  the  great  and  ever- 
increasing  demand  for  lamb  mutton  in  the 
United  States,  that  this  industry  is  one  not 
destined  to  soon  diminish  in  importance.  Old 
sheep  are  fed  in  relatively  decreasing  numbers 
and  the  demand  for  strictly  ''baby  lambs"  is 
absorbing  a  greater  and  greater  proportion  of 
the  farm-grown  lambs.  Lamb  feeding  as  a 
speculation  may  result  disastrously,  indeed  is 
certain  to  do  so  at  times  when  feeders  are 
bought  dear,  feeds  are  high  in  price  and  lambs 
sell  cheaply  in  spring:  but  the  farmer  who  fits 


298  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

himself  for  the  business  and  feeds  with  care 
and  steadiness  year  by  year  will  find  his  profits 
encouraging  and  his  farm  increasing  steadily  in 
jDroductiveness.  The  work  is  such  that  farm 
labor  finds  employment  the  year  'round,  thus 
good  men  are  attracted  to  lamb-feeding  farms. 

FEEDING  OF   OLDER  SHEEP. 

After  the  lamb  comes  the  yearling  in  point  of 
merit  as  a  feeder.  Very  often  the  yearling  was  a 
light  lamb,  too  light  the  owner  thought  to  put 
upon  the  market  in  the  fall.  In  the  feed  lot  year- 
lings thrive.  They  do  not  always  have  perfect 
front  teeth  and  are  therefore  less  able  to  eat  ear 
corn.  If  bought  light  enough  their  gain  is  very 
good.  They  may  be  fed  best  in  just  the  way  de- 
scribed for  feeding  lambs  and  their  treatment 
need  vary  in  no  particular  save  one.  Should 
there  be  any  ewes  among  these  yearlings  the 
feeder  must  be  very  careful  that  they  do  not  get 
access  in  any  way  to  the  ram,  or  that  there  be 
no  rams  among  the  lot  when  bought. 

Ewes  in  the  feed  lot  will  not  very  often  drop 
living  lambs.  If  they  are  sent  to  market  be- 
fore lambing,  supposing  they  show  strong  signs 
of  pregnancy,  they  are  subject  to  dockage  and 
may  possibly  be  thrown  out  by  the  inspectors. 

FEEDING   MATURE   WETHERS. 

There  are  advantages  in  feeding  wethers  that 
lambs  do  not  possess.  They  are  big  and  strong 
and  hardy.  They  do  not  die  so  easily.  They 
do  not  need  shelter  so  much  as  the  lambs  need 
it.     They  will  thrive  quite  well  on  corn  and  corn 


WESTERN  LAMB   FEEDING.  299 

stover  with  little  hay.  They  are  adapted  to  a 
ruder,  rougher  style  of  sheep  husbandry  than 
the  lambs. 

There  are,  however,  some  few  essentials  to 
successful  wether  feeding.  First  and  most  im- 
portant is  to  buy  the  right  class  and  to  buy  them 
cheap  enough.  With  the  lamb  one  can  afford  bet- 
ter to  pay  too  much,  since  the  gain  in  weight  may 
be  so  great  that  the  excess  of  cost  may  be  offset 
by  the  good  gain  in  pounds  and  profitable  price 
for  it.  With  mature  sheep  much  smaller  gains 
can  be  had  and  if  there  is  not  a  material  ad- 
vance in  selling  price  over  cost  loss  is  apt  to 
follow. 

In  lamb  feeding  there  is  often  more  profit  in 
buying  small,  immature  lambs.  W^ith  wethers, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  bigger  and  better  ma- 
tured they  are  the  better  the  chances  presum- 
ably are  for  profits  in  feeding  them— that  is, 
if  they  have  been  bought  low  enough  so  that  the 
selling  price  will  be  materially  better.  There  is 
thus  the  advanced  gain  on  the  first  cost  besides 
the  pay  for  what  weight  is  put  on.  Opinions 
differ  as  to  what  advance  in  price  the  feeder  of 
m.ature  sheep  must  have  in  order  to  make  a 
profit.  Certainly  it  depends  much  upon  the  sell- 
ing price;  if  that  is  high  there  is  need  of  less 
margin  than  if  it  is  low.  In  general  there 
should  be  a  rise  of  a  dollar  per  hundred  to  make 
feeding  of  mature  sheep  profitable.  This  also 
depends  much  upon  the  price  of  wool.  When 
wool  sells  as  high  as  25  to  30  cents  per  pound 
the  profit  of  feeding  mature  sheep  is  naturally 
much  firreater  than  when  wool  is  low.  Then  also 


300 


SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 


one  can  afford  to  feed  the  heavy  shearing  types, 
which  do  not  naturally  make  so  good  gains  in 
weight  as  do  the  more  open  wooled  and  light 
shearing  sorts. 

In  feeding  sheep  there  is  need  for  much  less 
protein  in  the  ration  than  when  lambs  are  fed. 


A  PAIR  OF  HAMPSHIRE  LAMBS. 

The  reason  is  plain:  the  mature  sheep  has  its 
frame  already  built;  has  nearly  as  much  mus- 
cular structure  as  it  will  ever  have.  It  has 
been  demonstrated  that  feeding  does  not  ma- 
terially add  to  the  flesh  of  the  animal,  unless 
perhaps  in  case  of  considerable  emaciation,  but 
puts  on  fat  instead,  either  intruding  it  between 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING. 


301 


the  muscles,  or,  what  is  usual  with  the  sheep, 
depositing  it  in  masses  partly  upon  the  inside 
and  partly  distributed  over  the  body. 

The  lamb,  as  has  been  noted,  has  its  frame- 
work yet  to  build,  therefore  it  needs  and  must 
have  abundant  protein,  thence  its  thrift  when 


AT  A  ROYAL  ENGLISH  SHOW. 

fed  such  protein-carrying  foods  as  wheat  bran, 
oilmeal,  soy  beans  and  alfalfa  or  clover  hay. 

Corn,  (maize)  is  preeminently  the  best  food- 
stuff for  fattening  sheep.  It  may  be  fed  in  very 
economical  manner.  In  Ohio  it  is  the  practice 
to  cut  the  corn  when  ripe,  gathering  it  into  large 
shocks  containing  from  144  to  256  hills.  These 
shocks  tightl}^  bound  about  the  tops  keep  out 


302  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

the  weather  and  preserve  the  ears  and  blades 
very  well.  From  the  field  the  shocks  are  drawn 
direct  to  the  feed  yard,  or  to  some  large,  dry 
feeding  field,  where  the  nnhusked  corn  is 
strewn  thinly  over  the  ground.  Here  the  sheep 
consume  the  ears  with  little  or  no  waste,  trim- 
ming off  the  blades  also.  If  this  practice  of 
feeding  shock  corn  is  now  supplemented  by  sup- 
plying racks  filled  with  clover  or  alfalfa  hay  the 
sheep  are  as  well  provided  for  as  need  be. 

Sheep  consume  more  food  than  steers,  weight 
for  weight  of  animals  being  compared  and  also 
make  slightly  greater  gains  for  food  consumed. 
In  general  sheep  will  consume  about  one-fourth 
more  than  steers. 

There  would  thus  seem  to  be  considerable  ad- 
vantage in  feeding  sheep  over  feeding  cattle, 
when  gains  are  considered  and  also  fleeces  se- 
cured, were  it  not  that  death  losses  are  higher 
among  sheep  and  also  prices  fluctuate  consid- 
erably, sometimes  feeders  being  relatively  high 
in  the  fall  and  ripe  sheep  low  in  the  spring. 

The  correct  management  of  the  sheep  feeding 
yard  is  simple.  There  should  be  provided 
wind  breaks.  It  is  an  old  saying  that  ''the  pig 
can  see  the  wind"  and  the  sheep  can  certainly 
feel  it  through  its  thick  coat.  Sometimes  these 
windbreaks  are  formed  by  long  sheds,  some- 
times by  high  fences,  made  tight,  and  sometimes 
they  are  of  natural  timber  and  brush.  Some  of 
the  best  sheep  the  writer  has  ever  seen  fed  were 
fed  in  the  old  fashioned  way  on  shock  corn,  in 
a  blue-grass  pasture  that  had  been  allowed  to 
grow  up  very  high  and  thick,  and  where  open 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING.  303 

glades  were  interspersed  with  thickets  of  hazel, 
oak  and  hickory.  In  this  primitive  solitude  the 
sheep  found  shelter  and  sustenance,  feeding  on 
shock  corn  strewn  in  the  open  places  where  the 
wind  could  not  reach  them. 

Water  must  be  abundant  and  good  and  very 
accessible.  Sheep  will  not  thrive  if  they  must 
go  far  for  their  drink. 

It  is  a  good  plan  to  provide  wide,  flat-bot- 
tomed troughs  in  which  may  be  fed  husked  ear 
corn,  since  it  will  not  all  the  season  be  prac- 
ticable to  feed  shock  corn.  If  the  sheep  have 
their  teeth  they  will  shell  the  ear  corn  so  read- 
ily that  it  is  not  worth  while  shelling  it  for  them. 

The  hay  racks  are  best  in  shelter  of  sheds  so 
that  the  hay  cannot  become  wet  with  rains. 
And  if  there  is  room  so  that  all  can  be  sheltered 
from  soaking  storms  all  the  better.  Dry  cold 
and  snow  will  not  hurt  but  wet  is  a  serious  set- 
back. 

Mam^  sheep  feeders  rely  upon  self-feeders 
for  shelled  corn  for  the  finishing  of  the  sheep. 
These  are  usually  large  bins,  holding  20  to  100 
bushels  each,  with  troughs  on  either  side  into 
which  the  corn  descends  slowly.  There  seems 
less  objection  to  the  use  of  the  self-feeder  for 
mature  sheep  than  for  lambs.  The  writer  be- 
lieves, however,  that  the  greater  profit  comes 
from  regular  feeding  in  troughs  of  rations  a 
little  under  the  appetites  of  the  sheep. 

A  better  and  safer  self-feeder  is  the  self  feed- 
ing corn  crib.  This  is  built  with  a  capacity  of 
hundreds  or  thousands  of  bushels,  with  a  large 
trous^h  at  the  side  into  which  corn  descends. 


304  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

Sheep  shell  this  corn  at  their  will  and  the  cobs 
are  thrown  out  as  they  gather. 

Sheep  ought  to  gain  on  feed  from  one  to  four 
pounds  per  week,  depending  on  their  condition 
and  the  stage  of  feeding.  The  gains  are  most 
rapid  just  before  approaching  ripeness. 

Death  losses  in  feeding  mature  sheep  should 
be  slightly  less  than  in  feeding  lambs.  Natur- 
ally gains  are  less  since  there  is  not  opportunity 
for  much  growth  along  with  fattening.  The 
writer  once  made  a  gain  of  45  lbs.  with  lambs 
in  the  barn  while  his  wethers  outside,  very  well 
fed,  gained  20  lbs.  The  wethers  consumed  more 
corn  than  the  lambs  but  had  no  wheat  bran 
which  the  lambs  received. 

Sheep  will  consume  better  than  lambs  vari- 
ous coarse  fodders.  Soy  bean  straw  they  relish, 
if  it  is  not  weather  damaged,  and  bean  and  pea 
straw.  When  only  a  maintenance  ration  is  fed 
it  may  consist  largely  of  these  fodders,  with  a 
trifle  of  grain  to  keep  up  the  weight. 

While  in  the  regions  west  of  the  Missouri 
sheep  feeding  is  carried  on  in  this  rather  primi- 
tive fashion,  in  Michigan  and  Ohio  it  has  pro- 
gressed further  toward  a  right  solution  of  the 
problem.  The  writer  has  a  neighbor  who  has 
fed  sheep  for  many  years.  This  neighbor, 
Chas.  Bales  of  Madison  Co.,  Ohio,  formerly  fed 
in  open  yards  protected  only  by  high  fences.  In 
these  yards  he  fed  with  shock  corn,  using  self 
feeders  toward  the  latter  part  of  the  period. 
He  was  able  to  get  a  gain  of  about  30  pounds, 
using  the  best  class  of  Montana  feeders. 

Later  he  built  barns  and  sheds  in  which  he 


WESTERN   LAMB   FEEDING.  307 

fed  clover  and  alfalfa  hay.  Continuing  his 
grain  feeding  in  much  the  same  manner  he  was 
able  to  increase  his  average  gain  so  that  1,000 
sheep  weighing  when  they  went  into  the  yard 
110  lbs.  average  increased  to  a  weight  of  156  lbs. 
besides  shearing  a  fleece  of  10  pounds.  At  the 
same  time-  he  cut  down  his  death  losses  to  2 
sheep  from  1,200  one  year  and  again  to  6  from 
1,200.  He  attributes  the  lighter  losses  to  the 
fact  of  the  sheep  being  more  comfortable,  thus 
eating  with  more  regularity,  and  not  injuring 
their  digestions  by  sudden  overloading  with 
grain.  He  now  believes  that  the  self-feeders 
should  be  under  cover  and  only  the  shock  corn 
fed  in  yards. 

This  man  makes  a  practice  of  saving  the  late 
summer  growth  of  blue-grass  on  large  pastures, 
on  which  the  sheep  are  turned  in  October  or 
November.  On  these  pastures  they  remain  un- 
til Christmas  or  sometimes  till  February  if  the 
season  is  suitable,  having  also  racks  filled  with 
cjover  or  alfalfa  hay.  They  then  go  to  the  yards 
for  the  final  feeding,  going  to  market,  shorn,  in 
May. 

He  believes  that  the  secret  of  success  in  feed- 
ing wethers  is  to  buy  the  best,  using  those  with 
a  Cotswold  or  Lincoln  cross  if  obtainable,  and 
to  keep  them  stuffed  at  all  times  full  of  grass 
or  clover  or  alfalfa  hay.  He  finds  that  by  this 
method  they  consume  less  corn  and  do  not  suf- 
fer from  indigestion  from  the  result  of  too  much 
grain. 

He  does  not  turn  the  sheep  to  pasture  until 
such  time  as  danger  from  infection  by  intestinal 
parasites  is  past. 


CHAPTER    X. 


THE  DISEASES  OF  SHEEP. 

AILMENTS   IN    GENERAL. 

The  writer  is  sure  that  sooner  or  later  the 
reader  will  feel  a  sudden  need  of  knowledge  of 
sheep  diseases  and  the  remedies  therefor. 
Thus  at  the  risk  of  duplicating  a  good  deal  that 
has  been  said  elsewhere,  he  devotes  this  chapter 
specifically  to  sheep  diseases. 

At  the  outset  let  me  say  that  to  the  novice, 
and  sometimes  to  the  professional,  it  is  very 
difficult  oftentimes  to  say  just  what  ails  a  sick 
sheep.  Diseases  may,  however,  be  divided  into 
three  principal  classes. 

First,  there  may  be  some  external  parasite, 
as  the  tick,  louse,  scab  or  foot  rot  (which  is  in 
a  sense  an  external  disease.) 

Second,  there  may  be  some  form  of  internal 
parasitism.  This  may  be  worms  in  the  stom- 
ach or  intestines,  in  the  throat  or  lungs,  or 
encysted  worms  making  a  bladder  in  the  brain. 
And  one  or  another  of  these  internal  parasites 
is  the  cause  of  most  of  the  sickness  among 
sheep. 

Last,  there  may  be  some  derangement  of  the 
digestion  due  to  improper  feeding,  no  feeding 

(308) 


THE   DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  309 

at  all,  or  gorging  with  grain.  And  in  some 
regions,  among  the  class  of  sheepmen  who  feed 
sheep  in  winter,  nearly  all  diseases  are  of  this 
origin. 

Now  as  to  chance  of  cure.  For  external  para- 
sites cure  is  easy  and  cheap.  For  scab,  lice, 
and  ticks  there  is  the  dipping  bath,  and  this  has 
been  carefully  explained  in  another  place. 
Foot-rot  is  also  of  rather  easy  treatment. 

These  things  are  matters  requiring  timely 
and  prompt  treatment  and  are  no  cause  for 
alarm  whatever  except  as  scab  breaks  out  in  the 
winter  time  in  the  middle  of  the  feeding  season, 
when  it  is  costly  to  dip  and  the  sheep  have  seri- 
ous set-back  therefrom.  Indeed  it  is  not  just 
proper  to  class  these  external  parasites  as  dis- 
eases, any  more  than  fleas  on  a  dog's  back, 
though  they  jDroduce  disease  if  left  unchecked. 

The  matter  of  internal  parasites  is  much  more 
serious.  Nine-tenths  of  all  the  troubles  of  sheep 
east  of  the  Missouri  river  are  caused  by  some 
form  or  other  of  these  plagues,  or  by  a  combina- 
tion of  them.  We  will  presently  give  to  them 
some  attention  in  detail. 

Derangements  of  the  digestion,  caused  by  too 
much  or  too  little  food,  or  by  food  of  improper 
quality,  are  often  hard  to  diagnose.  For  ex- 
ample, recently  a  neighbor  of  the  writer  came 
to  him  for  advice.  His  wethers  suffered  from 
some  brain  disorder,  they  turned  around  and 
around  in  small  circles,  acting  stupefied;  they 
lingered  a  few  days  and  died.  These  sheep  had 
come  from  the  same  range  in  Montana.  The 
writer  promptly  diagnosed  the  disease  as  gid 


310  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

or  turn  sickness  caused  by  the  encysted 
parasites  called  Taenia  Coenurus.  This  worm 
is  the  fruit  of  a  tape  worm  that  infests  dogs  or 
wolves.  The  eggs  pass  from  the  dogs  or 
wolves  and  are  taken  in  by  the  sheep  on  the 
grass  or  in  their  drinking  water.  They  hatch 
within  the  sheep  and  the  young  worms  pierce 
the  walls  of  the  stomach,  gaining  the  blood 
where  they  travel  until  they  reach  the  brain, 
where  they  undergo  a  change,  developing  heads 
and  making  large  bladders  in  which  to  live.  It 
is  necessary  that  the  sheep  should  die  after 
these  cysts  have  reached  a  certain  stage  of  de- 
velopment so  that  some  dog,  fox  or  wolf  may 
feed  upon  the  dead  sheep's  head  and  thus  take 
into  its  own  system  the  parasites  which  become 
established  there  as  regular  tape  worms.  Thus 
the  round  is  continued.  The  tape  worm  within 
the  dog  or  wolf  reinfects  the  grass,  the  sheep 
become  affected  and  die  to  infect  more  dogs  (if 
there  are  any).  Now  the  way  this  hydatid 
affects  sheep  is  by  pressing  upon  the  brain  sub- 
stance and  absorbing  it  until  the  nervous  sys- 
tem is  quite  deranged,  the  sheep  is  stupid,  it 
turns  steadily  round  and  round,  always  the 
same  way,  neglects  food  and  dies. 

The  disease  is  somewhat  prevalent  in  Eng- 
land and  Scotland  some  years  but  is  probably 
rare  in  America,  at  least  in  a  rather  long  ex- 
perience the  writer  is  not  sure  that  he  has  ever 
seen  an  instance  of  it,  but  from  his  book  lore 
he  advised  his  neighbor  to  dissect  the  next  ail- 
ing sheep  and  look  for  the  brain  bladder  worm 
or  hydatid.    The  neighbor  obeyed,  but  no  brain 


THE  DISEASES  OF  SHEEP.  811 

disease  was  found.  Another  neighbor  sent  word 
to  the  afflicted  one  to  cease  feeding  millet  hay 
full  of  seed  which  he  did  and  lost  no  more  sheep, 
having  lost  some  30  before.  Thus  there  was  a 
clear  case  of  deranged  digestion  deceiving  one 
by  the  symptoms  resembling  those  of  brain  par- 
asitism. 

The  writer  has  seen  other  instances  of  de- 
ranged digestion  that  in  the  last  stages  gave 
symptoms  very  like  the  ones  described. 

Now  a  word  about  true  ''turn  sickness."  It 
is  sometimes  possible  to  cure  the  disease  by 
locating  the  place  in  the  brain  where  the  blad- 
der is  formed  and  cutting  through  the  skull  and 
destroying  the  j)arasite  by  puncturing  the  sac 
that  holds  it.  Recovery  sometimes  follows  this 
operation,  it  is  said.  And  in  Scotland  it  is  re- 
ported that  some  shepherds  have  such  skill  that 
they  can  push  a  sharp  wire  up  the  nostril  till 
it  locates  and  punctures  the  bladder  in  the 
brain.  This  is  an  interesting  and  astounding 
fact,  if  true.  In  practice,  in  America,  where 
sheep  are  plenty  and  veterinarians  of  the  finest 
skill  in  sheep  diseases  are  costly  to  employ  for 
such  cases,  it  is  best  to  kill  the  sheep  for  mut- 
ton (which  is  not  hurt  by  the  brain  hydatid  in 
the  earlier  stages),  feed  the  head  to  the  tire, 
and  not  to  dogs  and  get  some  new  sheep.  It  is 
a  safe  rule  never  to  allow  a  dog  or  wolf  to  de- 
vour a  sheep's  head  at  any  time.  And  dogs 
about  the  place  may  well  be  treated  for  tape 
worms.  Dr.  Rushworth  thus  prescribes  for  tape 
worms  in  dogs:  ''The  dog  to  be  treated  should 
not  be  fed  for  at  least  twelve  hours  before  re- 


312  SHEEP  FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

ceiving  the  medicine  but  it  can  be  allowed  all 
the  water  it  chooses.  The  evening  before  ad- 
ministering the  worm  medicine  a  dose  of  castor 
oil  is  advisable ;  for  large  dogs  the  dose  is  three 
tablespoonfuls.  Then  in  the  morning  take  of 
kamala  3  drachms,  gruel  1  ounce,  mix  and  give 
as  a  dose.  With  a  medium  sized  dog  two 
drachms  of  kamala  will  be  sufficient.  This  is 
a  very  etfective  taeniacide." 

As  to  the  cure  of  disorders  of  sheep  caused  by 
overfeeding  in  the  barn  or  feed  lot.  Cases  will 
occur  in  the  best  regulated  barns,  not  very  many 
when  things  are  carefully  done,  but  always 
some.  The  writer  and  his  brothers  and  neigh- 
bors have  lost  hundreds  of  sheep  and  lambs  in 
this  manner  and  tried  many  reputed  remedies. 
He  does  not  now  believe  he  has  ever  benefited  a 
sick  sheep  by  medicine  or  treatment  when  the 
cause  was  due  to  serious  derangement  of  diges- 
tion. Death  is  almost  sure  to  follow  no  matter 
what  you  may  do.  If  there  is  virtue  in  any 
thing  it  is  in  simply  taking  the  sheep  away  from 
all  grain  whatever  and  letting  it  alone.  If  there 
is  not  too  much  internal  disorder  this  will  suffice 
but  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a  hundred  when 
the  sheep  is  sick  enough  to  be  very  noticeable  it 
will  die  no  matter  what  you  may  do.  So  pre- 
vention, not  remedy  is  the  rule  for  disorders  of 
the  digestion.  These  cases  come  from  gorging 
with  grain  and  there  is  probably  some  toxic 
poison  formed,  for  in  many  instances  where  the 
writer  has  made  post-mortem  examinations  of 
afflicted  sheep  immediately  after  death  no  mor- 
bid condition  was  apparent  save  a  slight  inflam- 


THE  DISEASES  OF  SHEEP.  313 

mation  of  some  part  of  the  intestinal  tract,  and 
sometimes  even  this  was  not  in  evidence. 

Disorders  of  the  bladder  causing  stoppage  of 
the  urine  are  caused  by  the  deposit  of  limy  sub- 
stances in  the  bladder,  which  become  washed 
into  the  urethra  where  they  lodge,  causing  in- 
flammation, stoppage  of  the  urine,  a  period  of 
suffering  accompanied  with  great  distension  of 
the  bladder,  then  death. 

The  reason  for  this  disorder  seems  to  be  in 
some  instances  the  eating  of  too  many  mangels 
rich  in  lime,  the  eating  of  too  much  salt,  or  the 
drinking  of  water  too  ''hard"  with  lime.  The 
worst  instance  that  ever  came  under  the  writ- 
er's observation  was  in  his  own  feeding  barns 
where  he  had  a  great  store  of  oat  hay,  put  up 
so  very  moist  that  to  save  it,  it  was  liberally 
sprinkled  with  salt.  The  salt  was  greatly  in 
excess  of  the  needs  of  the  animals  and  made 
them  consume  much  more  water  than  they 
otherwise  would.  Very  many  of  the  wether 
lambs  became  afflicted  with  this  distressing 
malady  and  many  remedies  were  attempted  to 
save  them.  Some  few  may  have  been  benefited, 
though  the  writer  doubts  it.  It  is  recommended 
to  cut  off  the  vermiform  appendage  in  the  end 
of  the  penis,  and  to  slit  the  penis,  opening  the 
urethra,  to  free  it  from  limy  substances  that 
obstruct.  The  writer  advises  prevention,  and 
in  his  own  experience  with  thousands  of  sheep 
and  lambs  under  observation  fed  by  his  broth- 
ers for  some  years,  good  plain  practice,  using 
the  same  water  supply,  has  resulted  in  not  one 
instance    of   ''water    belly."     The   writer   has 


X 


314  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

been  informed  of  other  instances  where  oat  hay 
had  seemingly  caused  this  disorder  without  the 
accomiDaniment  of  an  overdose  of  salt. 

The  use  of  clover  or  alfalfa  hay  with  corn 
silage  in  not  too  great  quantity  and  corn,  with 
oats  or  bran  if  desired^  will  not  cause  this  dis- 
order in  one  instance  in  thousands. 

This  is  not  a  treatise  on  starvation,  but  it 
may  be  as  well  to  drop  here  a  hint  that  sheep 
that  have  been  starved  near  to  death  for  some 
time  are  not  usually  profitable  animals  to  buy, 
since  they  take  a  long  time  to  recover  and  many 
will  die  in  the  process  unless  great  care  is  used 
in  building  them  up  again.  The  writer  has 
known  instances  of  famishing  sheej)  being 
bought  for  a  few  cents  each  on  some  dried-up 
and  overstocked  range,  shipped  to  other  more 
fruitful  ranges  distant  some  ways  and  there 
turned  out  on  good  grass.  They  died  rapidly, 
however,  and  continued  to  die  for  some  time 
after  being  placed  on  the  good  feed. 

IMPORTANCE    OF   POST-MORTEM    DISSECTION. 

The  novice  in  sheep  breeding  and  feeding,  or 
the  old  hand  for  that  matter,  should  take  fre- 
quent opportunity  of  post-mortem  examination 
of  a  sheep  recently  dead,  seeking  to  see  whether 
the  cause  of  death  is  from  disordered  digestion 
or  parasitic  infection.  It  is  useless  to  dissect 
a  sheep  that  has  been  dead  for  some  days  and 
even  after  the  lapse  of  a  few  hours  there  will 
often  be  misleading  appearances,  as  of  blood 
settling  in  one  part  or  another,  that  will  cause 
him  to  form  very  curious  conclusions  as  to  the 


THE   DiSEAyES   OF   SHEEP.  315 

cause  of  death  and  miss  the  real  cause  entirely. 
It  would  be  amusing  if  it  was  not  so  annoying 
to  read  the  letters  from  sheep  owners  attempt- 
ing to  describe  the  symptoms  of  their  sick  sheep 
and  the  results  found  after  their  making  crude 
post-mortem  examination. 

Let  us  rest  the  case  here;  that  only  careful 
regular  and  judicious  feeding  will  prevent 
death  in  the  barn  and  feed  lot  and  that  medica- 
tion for  ''water  belly"  or  retention  of  urine  and 
for  serious  indigestion  has  never  yet  proved  of 
use.  The  fact  is  that  the  sheep  suffering  from 
slight  indigestion  is  not  readily  detected  among 
hundreds,  and  when  its  case  is  obvious  it  is  too 
far  gone  generally  to  be  helped  by  any  known 
treatment  whatever. 

OTHER  DISEASES  OF  SHEEP. 

Of  a  long  list  of  diseases  that  sheep  may 
sometimes  be  afflicted  with,  such  as  rheuma- 
tism, apoplexy,  goitre,  pining,  humping,  ery- 
sipelas, actinomycosis,  tetanus,  rabies,  sheep 
pox,  and  a  lot  of  other  diseases  usually  cata- 
logued, the  writer  has  seldom  seen  an  instance 
in  his  own  flocks  and  if  he  had  seen  it  would 
have  felt  powerless  to  help,  with  all  the  knowl- 
edge of  specialists  available.  Sheep  are  said 
to  suffer  sometimes  from  black  leg  but  it  is 
rarely  if  ever  reported  in  America,  and  in  Eng- 
land, on  the  extremely  fertile  pastures  of  Kent, 
sheep  suffer  from  anthrax.  This  disease  is  rare 
indeed  in  America  among  sheep. 

Sheep   do   not   suffer  from   tuberculosis,   at 


316  SHEEP   FARMING   IX   AMERICA. 

least  the  disease  is  exceedingly  rare  among 
tliein  in  America  or  elsewhere. 

In  truth,  of  the  long  list  of  diseases  usually 
catalogued  as  occurring  in  sheep  the  shepherd 
will  not  in  his  lifetime  observe  more  than  one 
or  two,  always  excepting  the  diseases  that  come 
from  internal  or  external  parasites,  from  un- 
wise feeding  and  from  garget  of  the  udder. 

It  is  wise,  therefore,  to  study  carefully  the 
question  of  the  internal  parasite  and  to  learn 
ways  of  management  that  will  avoid  them. 
This  learned  all  the  long  catalogue  of  diseases 
may  repose  serenely  upon  the  library  shelf, 
since  the  occurrence  of  an  instance  of  one  of 
them  in  the  flock  will  be  of  the  rarest. 

GARGET   OR  MAMMITIS. 

This  is  a  disease  that  affects  the  udders  of 
the  very  best  and  largest  milking  ewes,  pre- 
ferring those  that  are  best  bred  and  most  cod- 
dled. The  symptoms  are  a  hard,  distended 
udder,  from  which  a  changed  sort  of  watery 
milk  may  be  drawn,  which  often  becomes 
streaked  with  blood  and  sometimes  with  pus. 
The  flesh  of  the  udder  is  often  red  or  purple 
and  upon  pressure  can  be  dented  with  the  hand. 
The  ewe  has  fever  and  distress,  milk  secretion 
ceases,  the  udder  mortities  and  if  the  ewe  lives 
lono-  enough  it  sloughs  off,  leaving  a  sore  slow 
to  heal.  In  mild  cases  the  symptoms  are  much 
]ess  severe  and  the  ewe  soon  recovers,  losing 
perhaps  the  use  of  one  quarter  of  her  udder. 

One  of  the  causes  that  led  the  author  to  at- 
tempt this  work  was  his  despair  of  finding  light 


THE  DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  317 

on  this  and  some  other  subjects  in  any  existent 
book  that  had  come  to  his  notice.  The  causes 
usually  assigned  to  the  production  of  garget  are 
lying  on  the  cold  ground,  bunting  by  lambs  or 
from  having  too  much  milk  for  the  lamb  to  take 
clean.  Doubtless  all  these  things  are  evils,  but 
the  writer  is  convinced  that  the  cause  of  garget 
is  something  quite  apart  from  any  one  of  them. 

Probably  there  are  two  forms  of  garget, 
caused  by  different  things  and  running  differ- 
ent courses.  Too  m-uch  milk  in  the  udder  caused 
by  the  death  or  removal  of  a  lamb,  may  cause 
caked  bag  and  injure  a  portion  of  the  udder, 
but  that  is  a  far  different  disease  from  the  ma- 
lignant garget  that  has  often  nearly  broken  the 
heart  of  the  writer  and  of  his  younger  brother, 
upon  whose  shoulders  the  mantle  of  shepherd- 
ing on  Woodland  Farm  has  fallen.  Indeed,  ex- 
cepting that  the  seat  of  the  disease  is  in  the 
udder,  there  are  no  symptoms  in  common  with 
the  two  diseases.  The  writer  has  never  seen  a 
case  of  caked  bag  result  fatally  and  but  one  or 
two  of  real  garget  recover;  those  after  a  long 
Xoeriod  of  healing  when  the  entire  udder  had 
slonghed  off. 

The  writer  believes  that  all  the  cases  of  ma- 
lignant garget  that  have  come  under  his  obser- 
vation have  had  a  common  cause,  one  not  men- 
tioned in  the  books,  a  sudden  increase  in  the 
food  of  the  ewe,  resulting  in  perhaps  some  mor- 
bid change  in  her  blood  that  going  to  the  udder, 
shortly  after  her  lambing  (the  period  has  some- 
times been  as  long  perhaps  as  two  weeks  there- 
after) and  finding  there  some  favorite  germ  has 


j 


318  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

set  up  there  the  great  and  rapid  destruction  of 
live  tissue  that  is  seen.  Doubtless  the  disease 
is  caused  by  the  multiplication  of  microbes  com- 
ing from  an  introduced  germ,  equally  doubtless 
the  conditions  must  be  right  for  the  develop- 
ment of  the  germ.  And  the  right  conditions 
seem  to  be  the  derangement  of  the  blood  by  too 
much  food,  especially  by  feeding  with  corn 
(maize). 

A  skilled  veterinarian  once  related  to  the 
writer  that  he  had  never  dissected  the  udder  of 
a  cow  without  finding  therein,  along  with  the 
milk  ducts,  germs  of  bacteria  that  he  consid- 
ered the  agents  that  cause  bovine  garget.  How 
the  germ  got  there  he  could  not  tell.  When 
conditions  were  right  for  the  germ  it  multiplied 
and  did  its  work  of  destruction.  When  con- 
ditions were  right  for  the  cow  it  remained,  wait- 
ing. This  is  probably  the  explanation  also  in 
the  case  of  the  ewe. 

Corn  feeding  of  milking  ewes  has  apparently 
induced  most  of  the  cases  of  malignant  garget 
that  have  come  under  the  writer's  observation. 
Indeed  he  has  seen  a  fine  ewe,  proud  of  her  two 
beautiful  lambs,  with  an  udder  like  a  Jersey 
cow,  break  into  the  lot  of  feeding  lambs  and 
gorge  herself  with  corn ;  he  has  predicted  at  once 
that  she  would  come  down  with  garget,  and 
has  seen  his  sombre  prediction  verified;  has  had 
the  sad  task  of  trying  to  find  mothers  for  the 
two  worse  than  orphans  and  nursed  the  mother 
for  weeks  till  at  last,  ghost  of  her  former  self, 
she  went  with  the  flock  again,  her  udder  com- 


THE  DISEASES  OP  SHEEP.  319 

pletely  gone  and  only  a  partly  healed  surface 
to  show  where  it  had  sloughed  off. 

The  books  prescribe  for  malignant  garget 
hot  water,  camphor,  applied  externally,  and 
epsom  salts  and  iron  and  quinine  taken  inter- 
nally. The  writer  after  faithful  efforts  with 
hot  water  and  all  the  rest  of  the  remedies  does 
not  feel  that  he  has  ever  in  one  instance  even 
mitigated  the  horrors  of  this  form  of  garget, 
so  will  not  burden  the  reader  with  his  recipes. 
Let  the  shejjherd  experiencing  his  first  instance 
of  trouble  resolve  that  hereafter  his  ewes  shall 
have  the  most  gradual  increase  in  feed  after 
lambing ;  that  they  shall  be  given  little  corn  and 
more  bran,  oats  and  early-cut  clover  or  alfalfa 
hay,  with  roots  or  silage  to  make  milk  and  that 
by  this  means  he  can  prevent  future  inflictions 
of  this  nature. 

For  the  simpler  form  of  caked  bag,  however, 
hot  water  applications  are  doubtless  good,  with 
rubbings  of  camphor  and  belladonna,  and  some 
have  recommended  counter  irritants  like  kero- 
sene oil.  This  form  will  never  occur  either  if 
the  shepherd  will  keep  the  ewe  milked  out  after 
lambing,  and  perhaps  sometimes  just  before 
lambing  if  she  is  a  wonderful  milker,  and  will 
feed  right  taking  care  also  at  weaning  time. 

GKUBS  IN  THE  HEAD. 

Most  of  the  old  sheep  books  have  chapters 
on  this  disease.  It  seems  therefore  the  duty  of 
the  writer  to  speak  of  it  also  though  he  must  con- 
fess that  his  practical  experience  with  the  pest 


320  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

has  been  very  small.  This  may  be  because  his 
flocks  have  almost  always  had  shade  of  dark 
barn  basements  in  which  to  lie  during  the  heat 
of  the  day,  conditions  not  conducive  to  the  de- 
position of  the  eggs  that  hatching  in  the  nostrils 
of  the  sheep  crawl  up  into  the  sinuses  of  the 
nose  and  form  the  mature  grubs.  It  may  be, 
also,  that  well  nourished  sheep  the  more  easily 
repel  tlie  grubs,  or  endure  them  with  least  in- 
convenience. 

There  is  no  cure  for  grubs,  once  they  are 
established.  They  can  not  crawl  into  the  brain 
of  the  sheep.  They  Vv^ll  come  out  of  their  own 
accord  in  due  time.  They  change  into  a  fly  that 
in  turn  lays  eggs  for  more  grubs.  You  can- 
not do  anything  except  to  feed  well  the  sheep. 
''Grub  in  the  belly  is  a  cure  for  grub  in  the 
head"  is  an  old  saying.  Tar  on  the  noses  will 
let  the  sheep  eat  in  comfort;  once  shepherds 
bored  holes  in  logs  and  put  salt  in  the  bottom  of 
the  holes  and  pine  tar  around  them.  Sheep  eat- 
ing the  salt  got  the  tar.  It  needed  replenishing 
daily,  or  oftener.  Easier  is  the  darkened  shed 
for  the  sheep  to  lie  in. 

LIVER   FLUKE.  — ^^  THE   EOT.'^ 

This  terrible  disease  has  caused  in  the  past 
great  havoc  in  the  old  world.  It  is  less  prev- 
alent there  since  the  underdraining  of  their 
lands.  It  was  a  parasitic  disease;  the  parasite 
])assing  one  stage  of  its  life  in  the  liver  of  the 
sheep,  the  other  in  the  body  of  a  snail.  If  there 
is  no  water  for  the  snail    (a  water  species  is 


THE   DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  321 

chosen)  the  flukes  cannot  propagate.     There  is 
very  little  if  any  of  the  disease  in  America. 

NODULAR  DISEASE. 

This  is  the  disease  commonly  called  by  butch- 
ers ''knotty  guts."  It  is  characterized  by  small 
tumors  on  the  intestines,  the  tumors  filled  with 
a  greenish  cheesy  substance.  The  disease  is 
caused  by  a  small  worm,  about  an  inch  long, 
called  oesophagostoma  columbianum.  The 
worm  thrives  in  spite  of  its  name.  This  worm 
seems  a  distinctly  American  species,  inhabiting 
deer,  goats  and  sheep,  possibly  rabbits.  What 
it  does  to  the  sheep  is  to  interfere  with  the  di- 
gestion and  assimilation  of  food.  It  works  its 
way  gradually  into  a  flock  and  brings  ruin  to  it. 
There  is  said  to  be  no  cure.  Its  progress  is 
usually  slow  and  it  takes  years  to  kill  a  sheep, 
as  a  rule.  The  way  of  spreading  is  by  infecting 
the  soil  and  grass  through  the  excrements  of 
the  afflicted  sheep.  Therefore  when  sheep  are 
so  managed  that  lambs  do  not  graze  much  be- 
hind their  mothers  they  will  not  become  affect- 
ed. Presumably  the  contamination  of  the  soil 
will  not  last  longer  than  one  year.  This  point 
we  hope  will  be  demonstrated  by  our  national 
or  state  experiment  stations  before  long.  It  is 
a  vital  necessity  to  know  that  of  both  the  nodu- 
lar disease  and  the  stomach  worm.  Thus  it  is 
evident  that  a  healthy  flock  can  be  produced  by 
not  intermixing  the  infection  free  young  sheep 
with  the  irtfected  older  ones,  and  fattening  and 
by  marketing  the  older  ones  as  fast  as  practic- 
able.    Little  or  nothing  in  the  way  of  medica- 


322  SHEEP   FARMING   IN    AMERICA. 

tion  can  be  done  to  cure  the  afflicted  sheep. 
Prevention  of  the  disease  by  right  treatment  of 
the  young  ones  is  the  thing  to  be  aimed  at. 

TAPE    WOKMS. 

There  are  occasionally  outbreaks  of  disease 
caused  by  tape  worms.  Montana  and  the  Da- 
kotas  have  suffered  from  these  outbreaks,  also 
various  regions  in  the  Eastern  states.  The 
writer  has  never  observed  a  case  of  this  kind 
upon  the  farm  occupied  by  himself  and  his 
brothers  and  attributes  this  freedom  from  in- 
fection in  part  at  least  to  the  free  feeding  of 
pumpkins  in  the  fall  of  almost  every  year. 
Pumpkin  seeds  are  well  known  vermifuges  of 
great  value. 

The  tape  worm  of  sheep,  taenia  expansa,  va- 
ries in  length  from  three  to  six  yards.  It  is 
from  one  twenty-fifth  of  an  inch  in  breadth  at 
the  head  to  one-half  an  inch  at  the  tail.  In  ap- 
pearance it  is  a  dull  white.  It  causes  scouring, 
bloodlessness,  white  skin,  emaciation,  weakness 
and  sometimes  death. 

Treatment  should  be  given  to  each  one  of  the 
affected  flock.  Prepare  them  for  treatment  by 
fasting  for  12  hours.  After  being  treated  they 
should  be  confined  for  24  hours  so  that  the  seg- 
ments of  tape  worm  expelled  will  not  be  scat- 
tered over  the  fields,  to  further  infect  them. 
The  sheep  should  after  treatment  has  been 
deemed  satisfactory  be  put  on  clean  fresh 
ground. 

Dr.  Rushworth  always  prescribes  kamala  for 
tape  worms     The  dose  is  three  drachms  mixed 


THE  DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  323 

well  in  three  ounces  of  linseed  gruel,  this  dose 
for  adult  sheep.  Lambs  will  require  from  one 
to  two  drachms,  according  to  their  size. 

Any  medicine  administered  to  a  sheep  should 
be  given  with  the  sheep  standing  in  a  natural 
position,  with  its  head  raised  not  too  high,  and 
given  slowly,  so  that  it  may  pass  at  once  into 
the  fourth  stomach.  If  it  passes  into  the  paunch 
it  will  probably  not  do  much  good. 

If  the  kamala  does  not  prove  effective  Rush- 
worth  advises  giving  ethereal  extract  of  male 
shield  fern,  one  drachm  castor  oil,  four  ounces, 
mix  and  give  as  a  dose  to  mature  sheep.  Lambs 
can  have  from  one  to  three-fourths  of  this  dose. 

A  tonic  is  then  prescribed,  consisting  of  salt, 
2  pounds,  epsom  salts,  1  pound,  sulphate  of  iron, 
one-half  pound,  powdered  gentian,  one  half 
pound,  nitrate  of  potash,  4  ounces.  This  is  to 
be  mixed  together  and  fed  to  100  sheep,  in  oats, 
bran  or  other  feed.  The  writer  believes  good 
feed  and  change  of  pasture  will  make  much  tonic 
unnecessarv. 


There  is  a  minute  parasitic  worm  called 
Strongylus  tilaria  that  inhabits  the  bronchial 
tubes,  causing  .the  animals  to  cough  and  run  at 
the  nose,  sometimes  bringing  death.  In  the 
opinion  of  the  writer  this  is  not  a  very  prev- 
alent disease  in  America,  fortunately.  The 
remedy  is  thought  to  be  to  fumigate  with  sul- 
phur. The  writer  has  tried  the  remedy  and 
though  the  lambs  treated  did  not  have  the  dis- 
ease for  which  he  treated  them  they  mostly  sur- 


324  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

vived  the  operation  What  they  had,  and  what 
most  coughing,  emaciated  lambs  have,  is  a  re- 
lated parasite,  of  far  more  import  to  us  all,  the 
dreaded  stomach  worm. 

THE  STOMACH  WORM. 

This  little  worm  is  but  %  of  an  inch  long  and 
albout  as  thick  as  a  hair.  It  lives  in  the  fourth 
stomach  and  especially  afflicts  lambs.  It  causes 
the  diseases  (or  symptoms,  rather)  of  ''paper 
skin,"  ''black  scours,"  "lamb  cholera"  and  so 
on.  It  attacks  lambs  at  any  age  after  they  be- 
gin to  nibble  grass  until  cool  weather  comes  in 
the  fall.  It  is  the  smallest  parasite  yet  men- 
tioned in  this  list  of  diseases  and  has  wrought  a 
hundred  times  the  havoc  that  these  have  all  to- 
gether It  has  devastated  whole  regions  so  that 
the  sheep  industry  has  been  given  up  to  them 
and  men  have  taken  to  breeding  swine.  The 
stomach  worm  is  responsible  for  gullied  hill- 
sides, abandoned  farms,  and  boys  leaving  the 
farm.  It  is  not  a  new  pest  but  in  olden  time 
when  sheep  suffered  from  it  men  did  not  know 
the  cause.  Many  years  ago  it  swept  over  Ohio, 
decimating  the  Merino  flocks,  and  over  all  the 
states  of  the  corn  belt.  Then  no  remedy  was 
known,  nor  was  it  understood  whence  came  in- 
fection or  how  immunity  could  be  had.  Now 
we  know  all  this  and  the  stomach  worm  has 
lost  its  terrors  to  the  intelligent  and  watchful 
shepherd. 

This  fourth  stomach  of  the  sheep  is  just  where 
the  intestines  attach  and  where  an  important 
part  of  the  digestion  takes  place.     When  it  is 


THE   DISEASES  OF   SHEEP.  325 

filled  with  these  tiny  worms  digestion  is  wonder- 
fully disturbed  and  the  lamb  loses  tone,  the 
wool  appears  dead,  the  skin  loses  its  pinkness, 
the  appetite  is  deranged.  The  lamb  may  scour 
and  may  be  constipated.  It  eats  earth  or  rotten 
wood,  in  the  latter  stages  of  the  disease.  There 
may  come  a  dropsical  swelling  beneath  the  un- 
der jaw.  This  is  not  a  disease,  only  a  symptom 
of  the  disease. 

Depend  upon  it,  if  it  is  May,  or  from  then 
till  October,  and  your  lambs  are  droopy,  lan- 
guid, their  wool  dead  looking,  their  skins  chalky, 
they  have  stomach  worms.  Just  catch  one  and 
kill  it,  dissect  it  at  once  and  examine  the  fourth 
stomach  with  care.  You  will  surely  see  there 
the  little  writhing  serpents  that  do  the  mischief. 

These  worms  inhabit  old  sheep  too,  but  do 
not  do  them  so  much  harm.  The  life  history 
is  like  this:  the  worms  become  mature  in  the 
body  of  the  older  sheep  and  pass  out,  laden  with 
eggs  about  to  hatch.  The  little  worms  do  some- 
thing, we  do  not  know  what,  to  get  back  into  the 
sheep  again.  Probably  they  crawl  up  a  little 
way  on  the  grass.  The  lambs  come  along  and 
nibbling  close  on  tender  grass  where  the  ewes' 
excrements  have  been  dropped  take  in  the 
worms  They  mature  in  the  lamb  and  raise 
havoc  there  as  we  have  said. 

Now  cold  weather  either  numbs  or  destroys 
these  worms  so  that  there  is  no  danger  of  in- 
fection in  winter,  late  fall  or  early  spring. 

Elsewhere,  in  management,  the  prevention  of 
stomach  worms  is  described.  Here  we  will  con- 
cern ourselves  with  the  cure  of  afflicted  lambs. 


326  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

The  writer  has  dosed  hundreds.  For  a  number 
of  years  he  has,  on  the  same  farm,  had  no  cases 
to  doctor.  Moral :  there  is  something  in  manage- 
ment. But  there  is  something  in  cure  also. 
Therefore  the  writer  appends  parts  of  bulletin 
of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Animal  Industr^^  pre- 
pared by  B.  H.  Ransom,  March  1907.  The 
writer  has  faith  in  the  gasoline  treatment  and 
was  the  first  man  in  America  to  administer  it. 
His  brother  has  had  better  success  with  car- 
bolic acid  tlian  coal  tar  creosote  using  12  drops 
for  a  mature  sheep,  given  in  milk.  The  bulletin 
follows : 

The  stomach  worm  of  sheep,  known  to  zoolo- 
gists as  HaemoncJius  contortus,  is  generally 
recognized  as  one  of  the  most  serious  pests  with 
which  the  sheep  raiser  has  to  contend.  Sheep 
of  all  ages  are  subject  to  infection,  and  cattle 
and  goats  as  well  as  various  wild  ruminants 
may  also  harbor  the  parasite.  The  most  serious 
effects  of  stomach-worm  infection  are  seen  in 
lambs,  while  full-grown  sheep,  although  heavily 
infested,  may  show  no  apparent  symptoms  of 
disease.  It  is  from  these,  however,  through 
the  medium  of  the  pasture,  that  the  lambs  be- 
come infected. 

SYMPTOMS  AND  DIAGNOSIS. 

Among  the  symptoms  which  have  been  de- 
scribed for  stomach-worm  disease  probably  the 
most  frequent  are  anemia,  loss  of  flesh,  general 
weakness,  dullness,  capricious  appetite,  thirst, 
and  diarrhea.  The  anemic  condition  is  seen  in 
the  paleness  of  the  skin  and  mucous  membranes 


THE  DISEASES  OF   SHEEP.  327 

of  the  mouth  and  eye,  and  in  the  watery  swell- 
ings which  often  develop  nnder  the  lower  jaw. 
A  more  certain  diagnosis  may  be  made  by  kill- 
ing one  of  the  flock  and  opening  the  fourth 
stomach.  The  contents  of  the  fourth  stomach 
are  allowed  to  settle  gently,  and  by  carefully 
watching  the  liquid  the  parasites,  if  present  in 
any  considerable  numbers,  will  be  seen  actively 
wriggling  about  like  little  snakes  from  one-half 
to  114  inches  long  and  about  as  thick  as  an  ordi- 
nary pin. 

LIFE  HISTORY  OF  THE  STOMACH  WORM. 

The  worms  in  the  stoiPxach  produce  eggs  of 
microscopic  size,  which  pass  out  of  the  body  in 
the  droppings  and  are  thus  scattered  broadcast 
over  the  pasture.  If  the  temperature  is  above 
40^  to  50°  F.  the  eggs  hatch  out,  requiring  from 
a  few  hours  to  two  weeks,  according  as  the  tem- 
perature is  high  or  low.  When  the  tempera- 
ture is  below  40^  F.  the  eggs  remain  dormant, 
and  in  this  condition  may  retain  their  vitality 
for  two  or  three  months,  afterwards  hatching 
out  if  the  weather  becomes  warmer.  Freezing 
or  drying  soon  kills  the  unhatched  eggs.  The 
tiny  worm  which  hatches  from  the  egg  feeds  up- 
on the  organic  matter  in  the  manure,  and  grows 
until  it  is  nearly  one-thirtieth  of  an  inch  in 
length.  Further  development  then  ceases  until 
the  worm  is  swallowed  by  a  sheep  or  other 
ruminant,  after  which  it  again  begins  to  grow, 
and  reaches  maturity  in  the  fourth  stomach  of 
its  host  in  two  to  three  weeks.  The  chances  of 
the  young  worms  being  swallowed  are  greatly 


328  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

increased  by  the  fact  that  they  crawl  up  blades 
of  grass  whenever  sufficient  moisture— such  as 
dew,  rain,  or  fog— is  present,  provided  also  that 
the  temperature  is  above  40°F.  When  the  tem- 
perature is  below  40°F.  the  worms  are  inactive. 

The  young  worms  which  have  reached  the 
stage  when  they  are  ready  to  be  taken  into  the 
body  are  greatly  resistant  to  cold  and  dryness; 
they  will  stand  repeated  freezing,  and  have 
been  kept  in  a  dried  condition  for  thirty-five 
days,  afterwards  reviving  when  moisture  was 
added.  At  a  temperature  of  about  70°  F.  young 
worms  have  been  kept  alive  for  as  long  as  six 
months,  and  the  infection  in  inclosures  (near 
Washington,  D.  C.)  which  has  been  pastured  by 
infested  sheep  did  not  die  out  in  over  seven 
months,  including  the  winter,  the  inclosures 
having  been  left  vacant  from  October  25  to 
June  16.  It  is  uncertain  whether  infection  in 
fields  from  which  sheep  have  been  removed  will 
die  out  more  rapidly  during  warm  weather  or 
during  cold  weather ;  experiments  on  this  point 
are  under  way,  but  have  not  been  sufficiently 
completed  for  definite  statements  to  be  made. 
It  is,  however,  safe  to  say  that  a  field  which  has 
had  no  sheep,  cattle,  or  goats  upon  it  for  a  year 
will  be  practically  free  from  infection,  and  fields 
which  have  had  no  sheep  or  other  ruminants 
upon  them  following  cultivation  may  also  be 
safely  used.  The  time  required  for  a  clean 
pasture  to  become  infectious  after  infested 
sheep  are  placed  upon  it  depends  upon  the  tem- 
perature; that  is,  the  field  does  not  become  in- 
fectious until  the  eggs  of  the  parasites  contained 


THE   DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  329 

in  the  droppings  of  the  sheep  have  hatched  out 
and  the  young  worms  have  developed  to  the 
final  larval  stage,  and  the  rapidity  of  this 
development  depends  upon  the  temperature.  It 
may  be  stated  here  that  neither  the  eggs  nor  the 
newly  hatched  worms  are  infectious  and  only 
those  worms  which  have  reached  the  final  larval 
stage  are  able  to  continue  their  development 
when  swallowed.  This  final  larval  stage  is 
reached  in  three  to  four  days  after  the  eggs 
have  passed  out  of  the  body  of  the  host  if  the 
temperature  remains  constantly  at  about  95°  F. 
At  70°  F.,  six  to  fourteen  days  are  required,  and 
at  46°  to  57°  F.,  aggregating  about  50°  F.,  three 
to  four  weeks  are  ncessary  for  the  eggs  to  hatch 
and  the  young  worms  to  develop  to  the  infec- 
tious stage.  At  temperatures  below  40°  F.,  as 
already  stated,  the  eggs  remain  dormant. 

METHODS   OF  PREVENTING  INFECTION. 

It  is  evident  from  the  foregoing  statements 
that  in  the  northern  part  of  the  United  States, 
under  usual  climatic  conditions,  infested  and 
non-infested  sheep  may  be  placed  together  in 
clean  fields  the  last  of  October  or  first  of  No- 
vember and  kept  there  until  March  or  even 
later,  according  to  the  weather,  with  little  or  no 
danger  of  the  non-infested  sheep  becoming  in- 
fected. If  moved  then  to  another  clean  field 
they  may  remain  there  nearly  the  entire  month 
of  April  before  there  is  danger  of  infection. 
From  the  1st  of  May  on  through  the  summer  the 
pastures  become  infectious  much  more  quickly 
after  infested  sheep  are  placed  upon  them,  and 


330  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

during  May  it  would  be  nece&sary  to  move  the 
sheep  at  the  end  of  every  two  weeks,  in  June  at 
the  end  of  every  ten  days,  and  in  July  and 
August  at  the  end  of  each  week,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  non-infested  sheep  from  becoming  in- 
fected from  the  worms  present  in  the  rest  of  the 
flock.  After  the  1st  of  September  the  period 
may  again  be  lengthened.  This  method  of  pre- 
venting infection  in  lambs  would  require  a  con- 
siderable number  of  small  pastures  or  subdivi- 
sions of  large  pastures,  and  in  many  instances 
could  not  be  profitably  employed,  but  in  cases 
where  it  could  be  used  it  would  undoubtedly 
prove  very  effective.  By  the  time  the  next  lamb 
crop  appeared  the  pastures  used  the  year  be- 
fore would  have  remained  vacant  long  enough 
for  the  infection  to  have  disappeared,  and  would 
consequently  again  be  ready  for  use.  By  con- 
tinuing this  rotation  from  year  to  year,  not  only 
would  each  crop  of  lambs  be  protected  from  in- 
fection, but  as  reinfection  of  the  infested  ewe 
flock  is  prevented  at  the  same  time,  the  parasite 
would  in  a  few  years  be  entirely  eradicated  from 
the  flock  and  pastures. 

If  such  frequent  rotation  is  not  possible  or 
practicable,  a  smaller  number  of  pastures  may 
be  utilized,  after  the  ewe  flock  has  been  treated 
with  vermifuges.  The  treatment  may  be  given 
either  before  or  after  the  birth  of  the  lambs.  If 
before,  the  ewes  should  be  treated  before  preg- 
nancy is  too  far  advanced,  in  order  to  avoid  pos- 
sible bad  results  from  the  handling  necessarv  in 
treatment.  Probably  the  best  time  for  treat- 
ment is  late  in  the  fall  or  early  in  the  winter. 


THE  DISEASES  OP  SHEEP.  331 

The  treated  sheep  should  be  placed  immediately 
on  clean  pasture  in  order  to  avoid  reinfection. 
The  object  of  treating  the  ewes  is  to  get  rid  of 
the  worms  with  which  they  are  infested,  and 
thus  remove  the  source  from  which  the  pasture 
becomes  contaminated.  If  it  were  possible  by 
treatment  to  free  the  old  sheep  entirely  from 
stomach  worms,  it  is  evident  that  the  lambs 
would  remain  free  from  infection,  provided,  of 
course,  that  the  flock  were  afterwards  kept  on 
clean  pasture.  Unfortunately,  there  is  no  ver- 
mifuge known  which  can  always  be  depended 
upon  to  remove  all  of  the  worms,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible to  get  rid  of  most  of  them  and  thus  greatly 
reduce  the  amount  of  infection  to  which  the 
lambs  will  be  exposed. 

Two  other  methods  may  be  suggested  by 
which  lambs  can  be  kept  free  from  infection 
with  stomach  worms. 

1.  It  is  assumed  that  a  large  pasture  is  avail- 
able which  has  had  no  sheep,  goats,  or  cattle 
upon  it  for  a  year,  if  a  permanent  pasture,  or 
since  cultivation,  if  a  seeded  pasture.  This 
pasture  is  subdivided  into  two  by  a  double  line 
of  fence,  and  a  drainage  ditch  is  run  along  the 
alley  between  the  two  fences.  At  one  end  of  the 
alley  between  the  two  subdivisions  a  small  yard 
is  constructed,  communicating  with  each  of  the 
subdivisions  by  means  of  a  gate.  When  the 
lambs  are  born  they  are  placed  in  one  of  the 
subdivisions  and  the  ewes  are  placed  in  the 
other.  The  small  yard  should  be  kept  free  of 
vegetation  and  must  not  drain  into  the  lamb 
pasture.     As  often  as  necessary  the  lambs  are 


332  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

allowed  in  the  small  yard  with  the  ewes  for 
suckling.  The  rest  of  the  time-  the  lambs  and 
the  ewes  are  kept  separate  in  their  respective 
pastures.  By  this  arrangement  the  lambs  are  ex- 
posed to  infection  only  while  they  are  in  the 
small  yard,  where  they  may  become  infected 
either  by  embryos  of  the  stomach  worm  present 
on  the  manure-soiled  skin  of  the  infested  ewe, 
or  by  embryos  picked  up  from  the  ground  which 
has  been  contaminated  by  the  droppings  of  the 
ewes.  The  chances  of  infection  from  the  skin 
of  the  ewe  are  so  light  that  in  practice  this 
source  of  infection  need  not  be  considered.  The 
danger  of  infection  from  the  ground  may  be 
avoided  by  frequently  removing  the  manure 
from  the  yard  and  keeping  the  surface  sprinkled 
with  lime  and  salt.  The  lambs  and  ewes  will 
soon  learn  the  way  to  their  proper  pastures,  and 
after  a  few  days  little  difficulty  will  be  experi- 
enced in  separating  them  each  time  after  the 
Jambs  are  through  suckling. 

2.  Another  plan  which  may  be  followed 
where  the  climatic  conditions  are  suitable— that 
is,  in  regions  where  there  is  a  cold  winter  sea- 
son—is that  of  having  the  lambs  born  at  a  time 
of  year  when  there  will  be  no  danger  of  their  be- 
coming infected  during  the  suckling  period,  and 
weaning  and  separating  them  from  the  rest  of 
the  flock  before  the  advent  of  warm  weather. 
Under  the  usual  climatic  conditions  of  the  State 
of  Ohio,  for  instance,  if  the  lambs  are  born  in 
the  latter  part  of  October  or  the  first  of  Novem- 
ber they  may  remain  with  the  ewes  on  fields 
which   have   not  been  previously  occupied  by 


THE  DISEASES  OF  SHEEP.  333 

sheep,  goats  or  cattle  within  a  year— or,  if  cul- 
tivated fields,  since  cultivation— until  the  fol- 
lowing March  without  danger  of  becoming  in- 
fected, since  the  eggs  in  the  droppings  of  the 
infested  ewes  will  not  hatch  out  during  this  time 
of  year  because  of  the  cold  weather.  The  use 
of  fields  not  previously  occupied  by  sheep, 
goats,  or  cattle  within  a  year,  or  since  cultiva- 
tion, is  necessary,  since  otherwise  the  fields 
would  be  already  infected  with  young  worms 
which  had  hatched  out  and  reached  the  infec- 
tious stage  before  the  beginning  of  cold  weather, 
and  the  lambs  would  consequently  be  liable  to 
infection  from  picking  up  these  young  worms, 
which  are  not  killed  by  cold  weather  after  they 
have  reached  the  final  stage  of  larval  develop- 
ment. When  they  are  weaned  the  lambs  must, 
of  course,  be  placed  on  clean  pasture,  if  they  are 
to  continue  free  from  infection.  With  this 
method  only  two  clean  pastures  are  necessary, 
one  in  which  the  ewes  and  lambs  are  placed  in 
the  fall,  and  another  for  the  lambs  when  they 
are  weaned  in  March. 

Unfortunately  for  this  scheme,  it  is  not 
always  possible  to  have  lambs  born  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  winter  season;  but  with  addi- 
tional clean  pastures  a  modification  of  the  fore- 
going method  may  be  used  in  the  case  of  lambs 
born  toward  the  end  of  the  winter  or  in  the 
spring.  In  the  northern  United  States  lambs 
born  the  first  of  February  for  example,  may  be 
kept  with  their  mothers  in  a  clean  field  or  past- 
ure until  the  last  of  March,  as  in  the  case  of 
those  born  at  the  beginning  of  winter,  but  un- 


334  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

like  the  latter  they  will  not  then  be  old  enough 
to  wean.  Accordingly  they  are  not  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  flock,  but  the  ewes  and 
lambs  are  moved  together  to  a  second  clean 
pasture  April  1.  May  1  they  are  moved  to  a 
third  clean  pasture,  May  15  they  are  moved 
again,  and  finally  the  lambs  are  weaned  June  1 
at  the  age  of  four  months,  and  moved  by  them- 
selves to  a  clean  pasture.  In  the  case  of  lambs 
born  the  first  of  March  and  weaned  the  first  of 
July  three  additional  clean  pastures  would  be 
required  for  use  during  the  month  of  June,  and 
with  later  lambs  a  still  greater  number  of  past- 
ures would  be  necessary. 

TREATMENT  EOR  STOMACH  WORMS. 

Among  the  remedies  which  may  be  used  to  re- 
move stomach  worms  may  be  mentioned  coal- 
tar  creosote,  bluestone,  and  gasoline. 

The  animals  to  be  treated  should  be  deprived 
of  feed  for  twelve  to  sixteen  or  even  twenty- 
four  hours  before  they  are  dosed,  and  in  case 
bluestone  is  used  should  receive  no  water  on  the 
day  they  are  dosed,  either  before  or  after  dos- 
ing. In  drenching,  a  long-necked  bottle  or  a 
drenching  tube  may  be  used.  In  case  a  bottle  is 
used  the  dose  to  be  given  may  be  first  measured 
off,  poured  into  the  bottle,  and  the  point  marked 
on  the  outside  of  the  bottle  with  a  file,  so  that 
subsequent  doses  may  be  measured  in  the  bot- 
tle itself.  A  simple  form  of  drenching  tube  con- 
sists of  a  piece  of  rubber  tubing  about  3  feet 
long  and  one-half  inch  in  diameter,  with  an  or- 
dinary tin  funnel  inserted  in  one  end  and  a  piece 


THE  DISEASES  OF  SHEEP.  335 

of  brass  or  iron  tubing  4  to  6  inclies  long  and  of 
suitable  diameter  inserted  in  the  other  end.  In 
use  the  metal  tube  is  placed  in  the  animal's 
mouth  between  the  back  teeth,  and  the  dose  is 
poured  into  the  funnel,  which  is  either  held  by 
an  assistant  or  fastened  to  a  post.  The  flow  of 
liquid  through  the  tube  is  controlled  by  pinch- 
ing the  rubber  tubing  near  the  point  of  union 
with  the  metal  tube.  It  is  important  not  to  raise 
the  animal's  head  too  high  on  account  of  the 
danger  of  the  dose  entering  the  lungs.  The 
nose  should  not  be  raised  higher  than  the  level 
of  the  eyes.  The  animal  may  be  dosed  either 
standing  on  all  fours  or  set  upon  its  haunches. 
It  has  been  found  by  experiment  that  if  the 
dose  is  taken  quietly  most  of  it  will  pass  directly 
to  the  fourth  stomach  when  the  animal  is  dosed 
in  a  standing  position,  and  that  when  the  animal 
is  placed  on  its  haunches  only  a  part  of  the  dose 
passes  immediately  to  the  fourth  stomach. 
From  this  it  is  evident  that  the  position  on  all 
fours  is  preferable,  as  more  of  the  dose  passes 
to  the  place  where  its  action  is  required. 

Great  care  should  be  used  not  only  in  dosing 
to  avoid  the  entrance  of  the  liquid  into  the 
lungs,  but  also  in  the  preparation  and  adminis- 
tration of  the  remedy  so  that  the  solution  may 
not  be  too  strong  or  the  dose  too  large. 

COAL-TAE  CREOSOTE. 

Good  results  have  been  obtained  from  a  single 
dose  of  a  1  per  cent  solution  of  coal-tar  creosote. 
This  solution  is  made  by  shaking  together  1 
ounce  of  coal-tar  creosote  and  99   ounces    (6 


336  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

pints  3  ounces)  of  water.  The  doses  of  this  1 
per  cent  mixture  recommended  by  Stiles  are  as 
follows : 

Lambs  4  to  12  months  old 2  to  4  ounces. 

Yearling  sheep  and  above 3  to  5  ounces. 

Calves  3  to  8  monttis  old 5  to  10  ounces. 

Yearling  steers 1  pint. 

Two-year-olds  and  above 1  quart. 

Serious  objections  to  the  use  of  coal-tar  creo- 
sote have  been  found  in  that  the  substance 
known  by  this  name  varies  considerably  in  com- 
position and  in  that  some  trouble  is  often  ex- 
perienced in  obtaining  it  in  many  parts  of  the 
country.  Complaints  have  been  made  that  the 
substance  dispensed  by  some  druggists  as  coal- 
tar  creosote  has  failed  to  give  satisfactory  re- 
sults. 

BLUESTONE. 

Bluestone,  or  copper  sulphate,  has  been  ex- 
tensively used  in  South  Africa  in  the  treatment 
of  sheep  for  stomach  worms  and  is  recommended 
by  the  colonial  veterinary  surgeon  of  Cape 
Colony  as  the  best  and  safest  remedy.  His  di- 
rections are  to  take  1  pound  avoirdupois  of 
pure  bluestone,  powder  it  fine,  and  dissolve  in 
nine  and  one-half  United  States  gallons  of 
warm  water.  It  is  better  to  first  dissolve 
the  bluestone  in  2  to  4  quarts  of  boil- 
ing water,  then  add  the  remaining  quantity  in 
cold  water,  and  mix  thoroughly.  This  solution 
is  given  in  the  following-sized  doses: 

Lambs  3  months  old %  ounce. 

Lambs  6  months  old m  ounces. 

Sheep  12  months  old 'IV2  ounces. 

Sheep  18  months  old 3     ounces. 

Sheep  24  months  old 3^4  ounces. 

In   making  up   the   solution   only  clear  blue 


THE   DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  337 

crystals  of  bluestone  should  be  used.  Bluestone 
with  white  patches  or  crusts  should  be  rejected. 
It  is  especially  important  that  the  bluestone 
and  water  be  accurately  weighed  and  measured, 
and  that  the  size  of  the  dose  be  graduated  ac- 
cording to  the  age  of  the  sheep. 

GASOLINE. 

Gasoline  is  one  of  the  most  popular  remedies 
for  stomach  worms  which  has  been  used  in  this 
country  and  has  the  particular  advantage  of 
being  readily  obtained.  It  is  important  to  re- 
peat the  dose  if  the  gasoline  treatment  is  em- 
ployed, and  it  is  usual  to  administer  the  treat- 
ment on  three  successive  days,  as  follows : 

The  evening  before  the  first  treatment  is  to 
be  given  the  animals  are  shut  up  without  feed 
or  water  and  are  dosed  about  10  o'clock  the 
next  morning.  Three  hours  later  they  are  al- 
lowed feed  and  water,  and  at  night  they  are 
again  shut  up  without  feed  or  water.  The  next 
morning  the  second  dose  is  given,  and  the  third 
morning  the  third  dose,  the  treatment  before 
and  after  dosing  being  the  same  in  each  case. 

The  sizes  of  the  doses  are  as  follows : 

Lambs H  ounce. 

Sheep Vz  ounce. 

Calves ^/2  ounce. 

Yearling  steers l   ounce. 

The  dose  for  each  animal  is  measured  and 
mixed  separately  in  linseed  oil,  milk,  or  flaxseed 
tea,  and  administered  by  means  of  a  bottle  or 
drenching  tube.  Gasoline  should  not  be  given  in 

■^    *  OTHER   REMEDIES. 

Manv  other  remedies   in   addition   to   those 


338  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

mentioned  here  have  been  used  in  the  treat- 
ment of  stomach  worm  disease  with  more  or 
less  success.  Several  of  the  coal  tar  dips  on 
the  market  are  recommended  by  the  manufac- 
turers for  the  treatment  of  worms,  and  the 
action  of  some  of  them  is  much  the  same  as  that 
of  coal  tar  creosote. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  does  not 
recommend  the  use  of  any  particular  proprie- 
tary remedy  and  as  the  action  of  some  such 
agents  is  very  uncertain  it  is  suggested  that,  if 
it  is  desired  to  use  them,  they  be  used  with  cau- 
tion and  only  in  accordance  with  the  printed 
directions  on  the  package.  Whatever  remedy  is 
used,  it  is  wise  to  test  it  on  two  or  three  animals 
before  the  entire  flock  is  dosed. 

START  WITH  A  HEALTHY  FLOCK. 

It  may  be  that  the  reader  has  a  flock  of  dis- 
eased sheep.  He  has  had  much  trouble  with 
stomach  worms',  or  the  nodular  disease  has  in- 
vaded the  flock,  or  he  has  bad  losses  from  tape- 
worms.    Shall  he  therefore  go  out  of  business? 

That,  indeed,  may  be  his  best  course.  To 
get  rid  of  the  diseased  flock,  first  fatten- 
ing the  sheep  as  well  as  possible,  and  to  let  the 
land  rest  for  two  years  will  be  quite  sure  to 
make  the  land  clean,  ready  for  a  new  flock.  But 
there  are  certain  objections  to  this  course. 
First,  he  gets  out  of  touch  with  the  sheep  in- 
dustry, and  that  is  bad.  Then  he  begins  to  de- 
vote his  land  to  other  purposes  and  it  is  harder 
to  again  start  with  a  flock.  And  there  is  the 
very  real  and  practical  difficulty  that  it  is  im- 


THE   DISEASES   OP   SHEEP.  339 

possible  to  be  sure  that  the  new  flock  is  free 
from  the  enemies  that  led  to  the  discarding  of 
the  old  one. 

The  shepherd  may  take  advantage  of  the  fact 
that  lambs  are  born  healthy  to  start  anew  with  a 
clean  flock,  even  though  his  ewes  were  tainted. 
Infection  will  not  come  from  the  mother's  milk, 
unless  in  rare  instances  from  the  fouling  of  her 
udder.  If  she  has  a  clean  bed  there  is  small  risk 
of  that.  If  she  is  scouring  she  should  not  be 
put  in  the  company  of  ewes  devoted  to  this  pur- 
pose. 

These  ewes  should  be  bred  as  early  as  practi- 
cable, so  that  their  lambs  will  come  if  possible 
in  November,  December  or  January.  That  is 
because  in  northern  situations  there  is  practi- 
cally no  danger  of  infection  anywhere,  indoors 
or  out,  in  cold  weather.  Ewes  and  lambs  should 
all  be  well  fed  to  encourage  a  vigorous  growth. 

When  warm  weather  begins  to  come  in  April 
the  ewes  should  be  confined  rigidly  to  the  barn 
and  small  yard.  In  that  yard  there  should  not 
be  permitted  to  grow  even  a  single  weed  or 
spear  of  grass.  This  rule  must  be  absolute. 
The  yard  must  be  small  and  kept  always  per- 
fectly clean.  If  it  is  not  the  lambs  may  nibble  at 
some  plant  and  from  its  lower  lengths,  or  roots, 
imbibe  the  germs  that  we  are  seeking  to  avoid. 

Nor  should  there  be  any  feed  thrown  into  the 
yard.  Furthermore  the  hay  racks  should  be 
kept  clean  and  the  water  pure  at  all  times. 

As  fast  as  ewes  cease  giving  a  good  milk  flow 
they  should  be  removed  to  another  pen  and  thus 


340  SHEEP   FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

their  contact  removed,  with  a  per  cent  of  the 
danger. 

When  grass  comes  the  lambs  should  be  taken 
to  a  field  where  no  sheep  ran  the  previous  year ; 
where  no  sheep  manure  had  been  spread  the 
previous  year,  and  where  ;  o  stream  or  pool 
could  bring  germs  from  some  other  flock.  Once 
established  there  no  other  sheep  should  for  an 
instant  be  permitted  to  mingle  with  them. 

The  ewes,  if  there  is  room  on  the  farm,  may 
be  kept  over  for  another  crop  of  lambs,  since  it 
will  take  two  crops  to  produce  enough  ewe 
lambs  to  make  up  their  number.  After  that  all 
that  are  not  of  this  youthful  blood  and  free 
from  infection  should  be  sold  and  the  young- 
sters given  possession. 

At  "all  times  there  should  be  this  thought, 
''Has  there  been  opportunity  during  the  past 
year  for  any  sheep  to  drop  germs  with  their 
manure  upon  this  land?"  If  the  answer  is  yes, 
then  do  not  permit  the  lambs  and  yearlings  of 
the  clean  flock  to  graze  upon  that  ground  for  an 
instant. 

The  extra  cost  of  this  method  of  producing  a 
perfectly  healthy  ewe  flock  is  almost  nothing. 
A  trifle  of  care,  a  constant  thoughtfulness,  a  few 
hours  labor  and  the  result ;  a  banishment  of  the 
torments  that  render  60  per  cent  of  farm  flocks 
in  the  corn  belt  diseased  and  comparatively  un- 
profitable. 

And  having  a  healthy  flock,  absolutely  with- 
out parasites,  they  will  remain  so  if  the  germs 
are  not  brought  in  by  something  added  to  the 
flock.     It  is  barely  possible  that  rabbits  may 


THE   DISEASES   OF   SHEEP.  341 

carry  some  of  the  same  parasites  that  afflict 
sheep  as  also  do  goats  and  deer.  Aside  from 
them  there  are  no  other  carriers  of  these  germs 
so  far  as  we  know.  Unfortunately  we  must 
purchase  rams  or  else  practice  inbreeding.  The 
writer  is  inclined  to  think  that  with  strong, 
well  bred,  vigorous  stock  once  secured  it  is 
wiser  to  inbreed  for  a  time  rather  than  to  risk 
purchasing  a  new  starter  of  germs  with  an  un- 
certain ram.  However,  the  ram  himself  may 
be  put  in  quarantine  on  his  arrival,  permitted 
to  associate  with  the  flock  only  when  he  can  be 
of  use  to  it  and  at  all  other  times  have  his  own 
quarters,  a  grassy  paddock  with  shed  attached. 

Thus,  without  giving  a  dose  of  medicine  or 
applying  to  the  soil  any  lime,  salt,  corrosive 
sublimate  or  iron  sulphate,  the  farm  secures 
clean  pastures,  stocked  with  clean  sheep. 

Following  the  thought  of  destroying  the  para- 
sites in  the  soil,  as  is  frequently  advised,  by  ap- 
plications of  lime,  salt  or  chemicals,  the  writer 
would  call  to  the  attention  of  the  reader  the 
folly  of  the  proposal.  There  is  in  an  acre  43,560 
square  feet.  Supposing  that  we  desired  to  purify 
that  soil  to  a  depth  of  one  foot,  not  an  unreason- 
able depth,  there  is  then  to  purify  43,560  cubic 
feet  of  soil.  It  would  take  at  least  a  pound  of 
salt  to  destroy  germ  life  in  a  cubic  foot  of  soil ; 
it  is  doubtful  if  that  would  suffice,  so  that  about 
21  tons  of  salt  to  the  acre  would  be  required.  Of 
lime  probably  two  or  three  times  as  much  would 
be  needed,  and  when  it  comes  to  applying  chem- 
icals one  had  better  halt,  for  he  will  have  de- 
stroved  his  land  before  he  will  have  killed  the 


342  SHEEP  FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

germs;  that  much  is  sure.  And  why  do  this 
thing,  when  all  these  germs  will  perish  (we  be- 
lieve) in  one  year  unless  they  find  their  host,  a 
sheep,  deer  or  goat,  in  which  to  undergo  part 
of  their  life  cycle? 

The  writer  is  very  glad  to  give  credit  to  Dr. 
W.  H.  Dalrymple  of  Louisiana,  for  hav- 
ing performed  by  far  the  most  useful  series  of 
experiments  ever  made  in  attempting  to  rid 
sheep  of  parasites  in  much  the  manner  that  he 
has  described  in  the  foregoing  paragraphs.  It 
is  remarkable  that  a  far  Soutliern  state  should 
undertake  a  work  fraught  with  so  much  im- 
port to  men  in  the  sheep  growing  regions  fur- 
ther north,  the  explanation  being  of  course  that 
Dr.  Dalrymple  is  a  Scot. 


CHAPTER   XI, 


THE  ANGORA  AND  MILKING  GOATS. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  in  this  work  to 
give  a  little  information  concerning  the  Angora 
goat,  which  is  now  becoming  so  well  and  favor- 
ably known. 

Indeed  the  sudden  arrival  of  the  Angora  into 
public  appreciation  and  its  very  wide  distribu- 
tion will  make  inspiring  chapters  in  the  history 
of  American  live  stock. 

THE  A^TGOKA  GOAT. 

While  not  meaning  to  wander  far  into  the 
realms  of  goat  lore  yet  a  few  words  concerning 
this  work.  So  late  as  1897  the  first  large  num- 
ber of  goats  were  sent  from  Texas  to  Iowa  as 
an  experiment  in  brush  destruction,  going  to 
J.  R.  Standi ey.  These  goats  '^grubbed  the  land, 
brought  in  grass  and  boarded  themselves,  be- 
sides yielding  a  profit."  Other  shipments  fol- 
lowed. They  also  were  successful.  Since  that 
time  goats  have  been  introduced  into  every 
state  and  territory  of  the  United  States  and 
into  Alaska  and  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  Usu- 
ally they  have  accomplished  their  object;  they 
have  destroyed  brush,  and  grass  has  followed 

(343) 


344  SHEEP    FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

in  their  footsteps.  Now  there  is  a  demand  for 
goats  and  inquiry  concerning  them.  Several 
kinds  of  disappointments  have  followed  the 
introduction  of  so-called  "Angoras"  into  new 
neighborhoods.  To  answer  some  of  the  many 
questions  arising  in  connection  with  this  sub- 
ject this  chapter  is  written.  Breeders  of  Angora 
goats  should  have  one  of  the  following  works, 
"New  Industry,  or  Eaising  the  Angora  Goat 
and  Mohair  for  profit,"  by  AVm.  L.  Black  of 
Texas;  "Angora  Goat  Raising  and  Milch 
Goats,"  by  George  Fayette  Thompson,  or  "The 
Angora  Goat,"  by  S.  C.  C.  Schreiner  (Long- 
mans, Green  &  Co.).  Schreiner 's  work  is  a 
classic,  a  thing  of  beauty.  Thompson  is  con- 
cise and  practical,  enthusiastic  enough,  and  tells 
besides  much  about  milking  goats.  Black  is  an 
earnest  advocate  and  presents  a  great  array  of 
facts  and  examples  of  successful  practice.  I 
think  he  leaves  out  the  failures  and  some  of  the 
difficulties. 

Very  extravagant  things  are  claimed  for 
Angora  goats.  It  has  been  claimed  that  they 
will  shear  from  six  to  eight  pounds  of  mohair 
per  year,  worth— well,  all  sorts  of  prices  from 
75  cents  to  $8.00.  That  was  in  the  olden  time. 
They  have  been  claimed  to  be  immune  to  all 
sickness,  hardy  as  the  common  goat;  that  they 
will  kill  dogs  and  keep  disease  from  among 
horses ;  that  they  would  clear  land  of  brush  and 
make  delicious  mutton  at  the  same  time;  that 
they  were  very  prolific. 

Now  the  simple  truth  is  that  the  Angora 
goat  is  the  most  delicate,  though  the  most  beau- 


THE  ANGORA  AND  MILKING    GOATS.  347 

tiful  goat  known.  It  is  troubled  with  all  the 
diseases  that  afflict  sheep,  or  most  of  them.  It 
is  not  very  prolific,  nor  are  the  kids  very  easily 
raised  in  a  cold  and  wet  climate.  It  is  not  dog- 
proof,  nor  will  it  serve  very  well^  to  keep  dogs 
from  sheep.  It  destroys  brush  effectually,  if  it 
can  reach  it,  but  should  have  some  grass  along 
with  the  brush  to  keep  it  in  good  order.  And 
it  shears  a  fleece  of  about  3  pounds  that  is  worth 
from  7  to  40  cents  per  pound. 

While  the  writer  from  his  study  of  goats 
believes  his  characterizations  true,  yet  he  be- 
lieves further  that  despite  their  delicacy  An- 
goras can  be  profitably  grown  in  every  state 
in  the  Union,  wherever  there  is  rough,  dry, 
brushy  land,  that  they  may  readily  be  kept"  in 
health,  and  more  readily  than  sheep,  since  they 
are  in  no  danger  from  parasitic  infection  while 
browsing  on  trees,  and  that  the  quality  of  their 
fleeces  may  be  so  greatly  increased  by  system- 
atic breeding  that  the  7-cent  fleeces  will  be- 
come extinct  and  even  the  best  fleeces  will  be- 
come more  valuable. 

Let  us  get  at  the  history  of  the  American 
Angora  goat.  The  native  home  of  the  Angora 
is  in  Asiatic  Turkey,  on  a  high,  dry  and  rather 
cold  plateau.  It  may  be  that  there  is  some 
peculiarity  of  the  soil  and  climate  of  that  re- 
gion or  some  mental  twist  of  the  breeders 
there,  since  there  are  other  animals  found  there 
that  have  the  long  silky  hair  that  characterizes 
the  true  Angora.  Cats  from  Angora  have  that 
quality,  and  dogs  are  said  sometimes  to  possess 
it.     The  ancient  history  of  the  Angora  is  un- 


348  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

known.  It  has  doubtless  been  the  companion  of 
man  for  countless  ages  and  civilizations  have 
existed  upon  the  world  far  longer  than  we  have 
been  taught.  This  region  of  Angora  was  in  the 
ancient  days  famed  for  the  wonderful  fabrics 
woven  there,  and  the  Angora  goat  furnished 
the  fleece  for  these  fabrics.  Occasionally  war 
or  famine  decimated  the  flocks,  and  at  last  the 
changes  in  industrial  life  hushed  the  looms  of 
Angora  and  the  industry  of  spinning  the  fab- 
rics was  transferred  to  England.  Thereafter 
mohair  became  a  regular  export  from  Angora, 
and  the  quality  of  the  product  suffer ed  at  once. 
What  was  good  enough  to  use  at  home  became 
too  good  to  sell  abroad  and  the  Angoras  were 
crossed  with  a  baser  goat  called  the  Kurd.  It 
is  thought  that  there  is  not  now  in  the  world  a 
specimen  of  the  true,  ancient  Angora.  The  loss 
has  been  in  the  fineness  of  the  hair  and  the 
presence  of  more  kemp,  which  is  an  under  hair 
shorter  and  damaging  to  true  mohair,  because 
it  will  not  take  dye.  It  would  seem  from  the 
studies  of  Mendel's  law  that  it  is  most  un- 
likely that  the  true  and  honorable  blood  of  the 
old  Angora  is  lost,  for  it  is  sure  to  reappear  in 
its  purity  sooner  or  later,  if  it  has  not  already, 
and  can  be  fixed  again,  if  it  has  not  already 
been  fixed,  by  proper  matings. 

In  the  beginning  the  Sultan  of  Turkey  gave  a 
few  Angoras  to  Dr.  Jas.  B.  Davis  of  South 
Carolina.  Dr.  Davis  called  them  ^'Cashmeres," 
and  for  some  years  they  were  called  by  that 
name  in  America,  though  the  Cashmere  goat  is 
quite  distinct  and  of  no  great  value  in  its  pres- 


THE  ANGORA  AND  MILKING   GOATS.  349 

ent  form  and  has  never  been  bred  pure  in  the 
United  States,  so  far  as  the  author  knows. 
These  goats  throve  fairly  well,  and  following 
the  custom  of  the  times  very  great  laudation 
was  made  of  their  virtues,  among  other  things 
that  they  sheared  from  four  to  eight  pounds, 
which  sold  from  $6.00  to  $8.00  per  pound  in 
Scotland.  This,  unfortunately,  wns  an  exag- 
geration of  about  $7.25  per  pound,  but  the  goats 
meekly  bore  the  obloquy  as  in  the  Israelitish 
days  of  old,  meantime  going  merrily  about  their 
true  mission,  to  subdue  and  replenish  the  earth! 

When  Dr.  Davis  had  finished  with  his  goats 
they  were  sold,  and  among  the  purchasers  was 
Col.  Eichard  Peters,  of  Georgia.  This  man 
proved  to  be  an  Angora  enthusiast  and  in  turn 
sent  specimens  to  Texas,  California  and  other 
places. 

It  is  significant  that  the  Angora  never  be- 
came prominent  anywhere  except  in  Texas, 
California  and  Oregon  until  within  compara- 
tively recent  years.  There  were  several  reasons 
for  that.  The  warm,  dr}^  climates  of  the  two 
states  were  peculiarly  suited  to  the  animals  and 
land  was  cheap  there  and  range  limitless.  Then 
there  were  found  in  Texas  herds  of  common 
Mexican  goats  on  which  the  Angoras  could  be 
crossed.  This  crossing  was  done  on  an  exten- 
sive scale  and  in  a  short  time  there  sprung  into 
existence  great  flocks  of  grade  Angora  goats, 
larger  and  stronger  than  the  pure-bred  anirnals, 
but  possessing  a  small  amount  of  inferior  hair. 
Further  crossing  greatly  improved  the  hair, 
however,  and  it  is  not  meant  to  suggest  that  this 


350  SHEEP  FARMING  IN  AMERICA. 

debasing  blood  lias  brought  ruin  or  irretriev- 
able loss.  In  truth,  the  added  size  and  strength 
of  the  grades  have  been  a  help,  and  by  the  care- 
ful selection  of  bucks  for  a  few  generations 
wonders  are  worked  in  Angora  grade  fleeces. 

This  brings  us  (without  mention  of  further 
interesting  importations)  down  to  the  date  of 
the  recent  exploitation  of  the  Angora.  Proved 
in  1897  to  be  unrivalled  brush  exterminators  in 
Iowa,  their  fame  spread,  and  Angoras  have 
been  sent  in  carload  lots  to  most  all  the  states 
and  territories.  When  they  have  been  good  goats 
and  given  good  care  they  have  proved  profit- 
able. When  they  have  been  common  goats,  the 
result  of  indifferent  grade  sires  on  common 
smooth  Mexican  goats,  they  have  still  proved 
excellent  brush  exterminators  but  have  struck 
their  owners  with  dismay  when  they  had  them 
sheared  and  tried  to  sell  the  fleeces. 

Within  very  recent  years,  however,  since  the 
establishment  of  a  record  and  flock  book  for  the 
Angoras ;  with  classes  at  fairs  and  new  impor- 
tations from  Asia  and  Africa,  there  is  a  very 
great  improvement  coming  over  the  Angora  in- 
dustry and  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when 
good  mohair  will  be  abundant  on  the  American 
market.  When  that  time  comes,  curiously 
enough,  it  will  be  in  greater  demand  than  it  is, 
now  that  it  is  rather  scarce.  Mohair  is  used 
in  making  plush  for  dress  fabrics  and  yarns. 
It  is  the  most  durable  of  all  fabrics,  practically 
indestructible  by  wear.  Most  of  the  upholstery 
of  railway  cars  in  the  United  States  is  said  to 
be  made  from  mohair. 


THE  ANGORA  AND  MILKING  GOATS.  351 

\¥liat  then  could  a  breeder  hope  to  reach  in 
Angora  goat  breeding?  By  the  use  of  right 
sires,  for  a  series  of  years,  by  discarding  from 
the  flock  steadily  the  worst  he  ought  in  time  to 
possess  a  flock  shearing  from  4  to  6  pounds  of 
mohair,  worth  about  45  cents  per  pound  at  the 
present  writing.  That  will  pay  well.  A  fleece 
of  2  to  3  pounds  worth  20  cents  per  pound  is 
discouraging. 

It  takes  time,  however,  to  breed  out  the  com- 
mon goat  from  the  Angoras.  To  buy  any  large 
number  of  practically  pure-bred  goats  is  impos- 
sible in  America.  The  breeder  must  have  pa- 
tience, persistence  and  the  habit  of  extermina- 
tion. 

Now  what  of  management?  Newly  arrived 
goats  from  the  Southwest  are  tender  and  when 
turned  on  cold  Eastern  pastures  may  suffer 
considerabh'  for  a  time.  They  need  a  dry  shed, 
open  to  the  south.  To  this  they  will  come  when- 
ever it  threatens  rain.  They  may  be  fed  there 
some  dry  forage,  clover  hay  or  whatever  is 
available  It  is  not  usual  to  feed  them  grain, 
and  much  grain  will  cause  the  kids  to  be  born 
with  small  vitality.  The  fence  restraining  them 
may  be  of  woven  wire  and  thus  they  are  easily 
held  in  bounds„  Thej^  must  not  be  confined  to 
too  small  a  pasture  else  they  will  famish.  Bet- 
ter let  them  take  their  time  to  the  brush  exter- 
mination and  make  a  profit  from  them  as 
you  go  along.  They  will  feed  upon  the  leaves 
of  almost  every  species  of  tree  and  brush,  if 
they  can  reach  them.  They  will  not  do  much 
in  the  Avay  of  girdling  trees,  though  they  will 


352  SHEEP   FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

eat  the  bark  from  some  varieties  of  trees.  They 
do  not  much  relish  hickory.  Green  briars  are 
dangerous  because  they  sometimes  catch  and 
hold  fast  the  little  goats  till  they  perish.  These 
should  be  mown  oft'  with  a  brush  scythe  and 
then  the  goats  will  keep  them  down.  They  do 
not  make  a  meal  of  any  one  article  of  diet  but 
nibble  a  few  leaves  from  one  shrub,  a  few  from 
another,  then  some  weeds,  some  grass,  more 
leaves  and  so  on  the  day  long.  They  will  not 
thrive  on  brush  alone.  They  will  live  well  on 
grass  alone  but  thrive  better  to  have  brush 
to  mix  with  it.  They  require  water.  Laurel 
will  poison  them  if  they  are  given  access  to  it 
when  very  hungry. 

Angoras  make  good  eating.  Their  flesh  is 
called  ''venison"  or  ''mutton,"  according  to 
the  state  of  their  respective  markets.  The  An- 
gora does  not  have  the  overpowering  odor  of 
the  common  male  goat.  They  are  as  dainty  as 
deer  in  their  habits.  Offered  for  sale  at  our 
great  market  centers  they  sell  for  considerably 
fess  than  sheep,  1  to  2  cents  per  pound  less. 

This  condition  may  improve  with  time  and 
the  elimination  of  more  of  the  common  goat 
from  their  blood. 

Angora  goats  are  not  heavy  milkers  and  are 
not  suitable  for  use  as  milking  goats.  Great 
excellence  is  seldom  attained  in  two  or  three  di- 
verse lines  of  endeavor. 

The  beginner  in  goat  raising  in  the  East 
should  fix  in  his  mind  a  few  facts.  Angoras  are 
not  exceptions  to  the  universal  rule  in  the  ani- 
mal world  that  food  is  required  for  sustenance 


THE   ANGORA  AND   MILKING   GOATS.  353 

and  growth.  They  are  able,  true,  to  eat  foods 
that  other  animals  neglect,  but  as  a  rule  brush- 
wood is  not  very  nutritious  and  there  ought  to 
be  some  grass  in  connection.  In  winter  time 
Angoras  deprived  of  food  suffer  as  sheep 
would.  They  can  not  subsist  on  coarse  browse. 
They  need  bright  straw,  corn  fodder,  a  very  lit- 
tle grain.  Then  let  them  browse  what  they  will. 
They  absolutely  must  have  abundant  exercise 
to  keep  themi  in  health.  They  love  to  take  it  by 
roaming  about  and  browsing. 

They  must  not  be  crowded.  The  shed  should 
be  roomy  and  airy  and  dry  under  foot.  It  is 
absolutely  essential  that  they  should  have  an 
abundance  of  fresh  air.  They  are  very  dainty 
about  what  they  eat  and  will  not  eat  any  for- 
age that  has  been  dropped  underfoot.  Their 
racks,  therefore,  should  be  so  made  as  to  hold 
the  forage  up.  It  is  useless  to  lift  hay  or  fod- 
der from  the  floor  or  ground  and  put  it  again 
into  the  rack;  they  refuse  it.  They  have  the 
sensitive  noses  of  rabbits. 

Do  not  forget  the  dryness  under  foot.  The 
yard  must  not  be  muddy,  and  if  it  becomes  so, 
slightly  raised  walks  of  plank  or  rock  should 
lead  from  the  dry  shed  to  the  dry  pasture  out- 
side. There  should  be  abundant  opportunity  of 
entrance  to  the  shed.  It  is  best  to  leave  the 
entire  south  side  open,  else  some  quarrelsome 
individuals  will  prevent  the  others  from  gain- 
ing ingress. 

The  period  of  gestation  in  the  Angora  is 
about  150  days.  A  buck  will  serve  from  40  to 
50  does. 


354  SHEEP   FARMING   IN  AMERICA. 

The  buck  should  be  managed  as  has  been  ad- 
vised for  sheep,  though  some  breeders  practice 
turning  in  about  5  bucks  to  the  hundred  does 
and  leaving  them,  with  the  result  that  nearly 
all  the  kids  come  at  one  time.  This  may  be  a 
good  practice  if  the  breeder  can  manage  them 
in  that  way. 

The  kids  must  not  come  before  warm  weather, 
After  the  leaves  start  in  the  spring  is  the  proper 
time.  The  does  should  be  sufficiently  well  nour- 
ished to  be  strong  at  kidding  time,  though  one 
must  not  overdo  this  kindness,  else  the  kids 
will  come  weak.  Abundant  exercise  for  the  doe 
with  sufficient  food  will  make  a  successful  kid- 
ding. 

Angoras  must  have  care  and  attention  at  kid- 
ding time,  much  more  than  ewes  require.  The 
little  kids  are  delicate  and  can  not  endure  cold 
or  wet.  They  are  not  hardy  and  must  not 
follow  their  mothers  out  to  graze  before  they 
are  six  or  eight  weeks  old.  Should  they  at- 
tempt to  follow  they  will  become  weary  and  lie 
down  to  rest  and  become  lost.  Therefore,  they 
are  kept  in  the  corral  and  a  board  put  up  over 
which  the  mother  must  jump.  When  the  kid  can 
also  jump  out  it  may  follow  her. 

A  better  scheme  is  the  ''bridge."  This  is  an 
incline  ending  abruptly  in  the  air,  the  high  end 
at  the  corral  side.  The  does  jump  up  on  this  to 
go  out  and  the  weaklings  run  under  where  they 
can  not  get  through  Thus  they  are  removed 
from  danger  of  being  stepped  upon  by  their 
mothers  or  other  does. 

When  the  kid  is  born  it  should  be  placed  with 


THE  ANGORA  AND  MILKING   GOATS.  855 

its  mother  in  a  small  pen.  Care  should  be  taken 
not  to  handle  it  unnecessarily  nor  to  rub  it 
against  other  kids,  else  the  mother  may  become 
confused  by  the  odor,  and  she  depends  upon 
that  entirely  for  her  knowiedge  of  her  off- 
spring. If  it  is  inconvenient  to  have  a  pen  for 
each  doe,  several  may  be  confined  to  the  one 
pen,  placing  their  kids  apart  as  far  as  possible. 
The  kids  are  often  ""staked,"  that  is  tied  by  one 
leg  with  a  strong  cord  in  which  is  a  swivel.  The 
doe  will  always  return  to  where  she  left  the  kid 
to  seek  for  it.  It  is  said  that  twice  a  day  is  of- 
ten enough  for  the  kids  to  suck.  Should  the 
doe  disown  her  offspring  she  will  own  it  again 
if  confined  with  it  and  the  kid  assisted  to  suck 
for  a  few  days. 

The  kids  must  not  be  exposed  to  cold  or  wet, 
as  has  been  said.  They  are  more  delicate  than 
lambs.  Is  not  this  a  striking  proof  of  the  an- 
tiquity of  the  breed?  For  how  many  unnum- 
bered centuries  has  it  been  under  the  fostering 
care  of  man !  The  common  goat  is  the  hardiest 
of  domestic  animals,  and  the  most  difficult  to 
get  profit  from.  The  Angora,  with  its  deli- 
cately beautiful  fleece,  has  had  this  ruggedness 
sacrificed  to  the  beauty  and  usefulness  of  its 
covering.  As  a  rule  the  better  bred  the  An- 
goras are,  the  nearer  pure-bred,  the  more  deli- 
cate they  are.  And  yet,  given  right  manage- 
ment, they  are  hardy  enough.  They  endure 
tropic  heats  and  semi-Arctic  colds,  but  they 
must  be  dry,  they  must  have  air  and  exercise 
and  food  partly  of  browse  and  partly  of  grass. 

We  will  not  here  go  into  the  range  manage- 


356  SHEEP  FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

ment  of  Angoras.  Any  one  wishing  to  grow 
them  in  large  numbers  should  make  careful 
study  in  detail.  He  will  find  much  information 
in  the  volumes  previously  mentioned  in  this 
chapter.  Dry,  hilly  ranges  are  admirably 
adapted  to  Angora  goat  growing.  They  seem 
rather  more  expensive  to  manage  than  range 
sheep,  especially  at  kidding  time.  It  is  not  well 
to  put  more  than  1,000  in  a  flock.  An  increase 
of  75  per  cent  is  considered  good.  In  small  lots 
increases  of  100  per  cent  are  not  unusual.  The 
better  bred  Angoras  are  the  fewer  the  pairs  of 
twins  born. 

Angoras  suffer  sometimes  from  stomach 
worms,  from  foot  rot  and  lice,  from  two  sorts 
of  scab  (they  are  exempt  from  sheep  scab),  and 
probably  from  nodular  disease.  They  have  a 
disease  of  their  own  called  ''takosis,"  which 
makes  them  waste  away  giving  them  a  tired 
feeling,  accompanied  with  diarrhoea  and  cough. 
It  was  once  believed  that  Angoras  had  no  dis- 
eases; indeed  like  sheep  in  dry  hilly  regions 
they  are  practically  exempt  from  disease,  but 
when  brought  to  damp  countries  with  dense 
green  grass  their  environment  is  so  changed 
that  they  become  infected  in  the  same  manner 
as  sheep.  The  treatment  for  internal  parasites 
is  the  same  as  for  sheep.  Good  management  in 
suitable  locations  will  prevent  disease  in  An- 
goras. 

Where  should  Angoras  be  introduced?  Not 
to  arable  farms.  Sheep  pay  better  there.  But  to 
hilly  and  brushy  regions  where  it  is  not  desired 
to   encourage   the   growth    of  new  timber,   or 


THE   ANGORA   AND   MILKING   GOATS.  357 

where  it  is  desired  to  clear  away  a  part  of  tlie 
brusii  and  replace  it  with  grass.  In  Virginia, 
West  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Kentucky  and 
southern  Ohio,  in  Tennessee  and  the  hill  regions 
south  of  there  Angoras  might  exist  by  thou- 
sands with  profit  and  advantage. 

They  should  in  all  locations  have  provision 
made  for  feeding  in  winter,  some  dry  corn  fod- 
der, oats  and  hay. 

The  difQcuJty  in  introducing  Angoras  to  the^ 
region  best  for  them  is  the  character  of  many 
of  the  people  living  there.  The  careful  reader 
will  have  realized  ere  this  that  Angora  goat 
breeding  is  not  adapted  to  a  careless,  lazy  or 
indifferent  man's  habits.  More  than  most  ani- 
mals. Angoras  are  dependent  upon  man  for  aid 
in  infancy  and  help  at  intervals  during  life. 
Angoras  are  destroyed  sometimes  by  dogs, 
though  it  is  thought  that  with  a  number  of 
wethers  among  them  they  are  less  subject  to 
attack  than  sheep.  The  man  who  wishes  to 
breed  goats  without  care  or  attention  from  him 
had  better  take  the  common  ''Billie  goat," 
which  is  as  energetic  a  brush  destroyer  as  he 
needs,  and  does  not  have  to  be  shorn  or 
need  attention  at  kidding  time,  and  can  usually 
defend  himself  from  dogs. 

THE     MILKING     GOAT. 

Doubtless  goats  have  been  the  companions  of 
man  for  a  longer  time  than  cows  and  have  be- 
friended him  for  most  of  this  time  by  sharing 
their  milk  with  him.  Therefore  the  milking 
habit  has  been  well  fixed  in  certain  types  of 
goats. 


358  SHEEP   FARMING  IN   AMERICA. 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  goats  make  better 
use  of  their  food  thau  cows,  and  turn  more  of  it 
into  milk.  Therefore  from  the  standpoint  of 
economy  goats  make  milk  better  and  cheaper 
than  cows.  Furthermore,  goats  are  almost 
never  attacked  with  tuberculosis  and  their  milk 
is  said  to  have  tonic  properties  of  especial  value 
to  children.  Then  there  is  the  fact  that  a  goat, 
is  very  much  smaller  than  a  cow,  is  easily  shel- 
tered, is  tractable,  requires  but  one-eighth  as 
much  food,  and  is  in  many  ways  better  adapted 
to  village  or  suburban  life. 

Taking  these  facts  into  consideration  it  is 
surprising  that  we  have  not  had  a  larger  devel- 
opment of  the  milch  goat  in  America.  There 
are  two  principal  reasons :  the  incapacity  of  the 
average  American  for  independence  and  self 
help,  and  his  false  pride  that  makes  him  fear 
ridicule  if  he  adopts  a  practice  that  is  followed 
by  his  poorer  neighbors.  Near  many  cities 
there  are  colonies  of  European  emigrants  who 
make  more  or  less  use  of  the  goat  as  a  milk-giv- 
ing animal.  Many  a  well-to-do  suburbanite 
could  follow  this  example  with  profit  and  gain, 
great  comfort  from  the  assurance  of  a  supply 
of  pure  milk,  produced  under  his  own  eye. 

The  writer  has  often  seen  cottagers  in  the 
old  world  employ  goats  for  this  purpose  of 
milkgiving.  Very  often  they  would  be  teth- 
ered near  the  dwelling  and  children  would 
bring  them  forage,  clippings  from  the  lawn,  re- 
fuse from  the  table  and  surplus  vegetables  from 
the  garden.  Children  would  often  do  the  milk- 
ing, also,  and  the  friendship  between  the  gentle 


THE   ANGORA  AND   MILKING   GOATS.  359 

goat  and  the  appreciative  children  was  very 
real. 

The  amount  of  miik  given  by  a  well  bred  goat 
is  extraordinary.  From  three  to  five  quarts  per 
day  are  not  uncommon  in  Europe  and  the  period 
of  lactation  is  long.  Some  German  authorities 
assert  that  the  goat  often  yields  ten  times  the 
weight  of  its  body  annually  and  that  excep- 
tional animals  yield  as  much  as  eighteen  times 
their  weight. 

It  is  a  good  goat  of  any  breed  that  will  yield 
two  quarts  per  day  for  seven  or  eight  months 
in  the  year. 

The  flavor  of  goats'  milk  is  good,  if  the  goats 
have  good  food.  If  they  must  subsist  upon  bit- 
ter and  aromatic  brush  or  ui^on  onions,  and 
refuse  from  the  garden,  there  is  danger  of  the 
flavors  reacting  on  the  milk.  Milch  goats  when 
in  use  should  be  as  carefully  fed  as  dairy  cows, 
given  good  wholesome  sweet  hay  or  clovers,  al- 
falfa, or  dried  lawn  clippings.  They  should 
have  their  ration  of  bran  and  oats,  with  a  trifle 
of  oilmeal  if  the  best  is  sought.  At  times  when 
they  are  not  in  milk  they  may  be  permitted  to 
feast  upon  all  sorts  of  brush  and  weeds  that 
taste  more  palatable  to  them  than  to  us. 

As  to  the  amount  of  feed  required  it  is  said 
that  eight  goats  require  about  the  same  amount 
of  food  as  one  cow. 

Milch  goats  need  a  comfortable,  clean,  dry 
house,  well  ventilated,  for  their  winter's  home. 
They  need  a  good  fence  since  they  will  climb 
and  creep  out  whenever  they  have  opportunity. 
They  are  quite  often  tied  in  stalls  as  cows  are 


360  SHEEP    FARMING   IN   AMERICA. 

tied  though  it  would  seem  better  to  give  them 
clean,  roomy  pens.  They  should  be  milked  reg- 
ularly three  times  a  day  by  the  same  person. 
They  should  be  taken  to  a  clean,  odorless  place 
to  be  milked.  Previous  to  milking  the  udder 
and  teats  should  be  wiped  quite  clean.  No  tu- 
berculous person  should  milk  either  goats  or 
cows. 

Milch  goats  are  very  prolific,  having  many 
pairs  of  twins  and  triplets.  The  Nubian  goat, 
one  of  the  best  milking  kinds,  is  said  to  have 
dropped  eleven  kids  in  one  year.  The  period 
of  gestation  is  about  155  days. 

Just  how  to  manage  the  kids  when  their 
mother's  milk  is  needed  for  human  consumption 
the  writer  does  not  see.  Probably  to  wean  them 
after  the  age  of  ten  days,  feeding  them  with  the 
bottle  a  portion  of  their  mother's  milk  and  by 
substituting  other  foods,  as  bran  with  a  litttle 
oilmeal  in  it,  oats  and  good  hay,  or  grass  in 
summer  would  solve  that  problem. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  interest  in  milch 
goats  is  mostly  speculative  at  present  in  Amer- 
ica, since  there  are  so  few  here  and  the  source 
of  supply  being  Germany,  Switzerland,  France, 
and  perhaps  Malta  or  Italy,  where  animal  dis- 
eases prevail.  Besides,  our  regulations  forbid 
the  importation  of  goats  or  other  cud-chewing 
animals.  There  is  hope  that  some  way  may  be 
opened  to  the  importation  of  these  anim-als 
and  that  an  industry  may  spring  up  here. 
The  best  adapted  to  our  climate  would  seem  to 
be  the  goats  of  Switzerland  and  Germany,  the 


THE   ANGORA   AND   MILKING   GOATS.  361 

Toggenburger  and  Saanen  breeds  being  esj^e- 
cially  desirable. 

The  Nubian  goat  is  the  greatest  milker  of 
them  all,  as  well  as  the  largest  in  size,  bnt  is 
not  hardy  in  the  colder  parts  of  our  country. 
Crosses  of  the  Nubian  on  other  goats  are  har- 
dier and  good  milkers.  It  is  remarkable  that 
Africa  should  have  given  us  this  animal,  the 
sole  representative  of  its  breeding  that  has 
come  to  us  if  we  except  the  fat-tailed  sheep  of 
Tunis. 

Doubtless  these  Nubian  goats  gave  milk  in 
the  days  of  Joseph  and  Pharaoh. 


INDEX 


Age  to  discard  ewes,  252,  253. 

Alfalfa  for  pasture,  172. 

Alfalfa,  how  sheep  may  help  start  it,  171. 

Alfalfa-fed  lambs  in  Colorado,  264. 

Alfalfa-fed  lambs,  quality  of,  268. 

Alfalfa  feeding  in  Kansas  and  Nebraska,  268. 

American  conditions  described.  14 

Amount  of  feed  needed  to  fatten  lambs,  285. 

Angora  goats,  343. 

origin  of,  347. 

numbers  of  in  Texas,  349. 

management,  351. 

"venison,"'  352. 

as  milkers,  352. 

period  of  gestation,  353. 

care  at  birth,  364. 

diseases  of,  356. 

regions  adapted  to  their  growth,  357. 
Bales,  Charles,  successful  feeder  of  sheep,  304. 
Barn  for  ewes,  107. 

for  aheep  feeding,  274. 
Beet  pulp  for  feeding,  2^2. 
Black-faced  Highland  sheep,  50. 
Black-tops,  Merinos.  25. 
Bloat  from  alfalfa,  173. 

Bloating,  prevention  and  treatment,  174,  175. 
Bluestone  for  intestinal  worms,  3o6. 
Breeding  young  ewes.  99. 
Breeding  on  range,  season  of,  225. 
Brome  grass,  172. 
Bronchitis,  verminous,  323. 

Buying  stockers  on  the  range,  advantage  of,  254. 
Hy-products  of  the  feed-lot,  290. 
Cabbages  as  forage,  179. 
Canadian  field  peas  for  lambs,  257 
Castration,  148. 
Cheviots,  49. 

Colorado  lamb  feedinj.?,  265. 
T'ommissionmen,  use  of,  254. 
Corn  for  baby  lambs,  13.5. 

for  fattening  sheep,  301. 
Cotswolds,  45. 

Coyotes,  trouble.some  on  range,  226. 
Creeps  for  lambs,  125. 

use  of,  131. 
Creosote  for  worms,  335. 
Crook,  how  to  make  and  use,  109. 
Cross*breeding,  63. 

theory  of,  65. 

on  the  range,  66. 

(3S3) 


364  INDEX, 


Cross-breeding  in  Eastern  pastures,  69. 

for  market  lambs,  67. 

in  the  South,  70. 
Dalrymple  Dr.  W.  H..  of  Louisiana,  experiments  of,  167, 
Death  in  feed-lot,  causes,  295. 
Delivery  of  lambs,  signs  of,  110. 
Dipping  vat,  93. 

for  scab,  94. 

in  regular  farm  practice,  93. 

summary  of  practices,  97 

on  the  range,  230. 

feeding  lambs,  241. 

at  stock  yards,  242. 
Diseases  of  sheep.  308. 

of  feed-lot,  312. 
Dissection  of  dead  sheep  advisable.  314. 
Docking,  147. 
Dorsets,  46. 

where  loated  in  United  States,  49. 
Dressing  lambs  for  fancy  market,  135. 
England,  large  flocks  in,  13. 
Ewes  disown  lambs,  cause  of,  105. 
Ewes  in  stock  yards,  249,  250. 
Fall  born  lambs,  188. 

how  to  get,  189. 
Fall  feeding  of  ewes,  98. 
Fall  treatment  of  ewe  flock,  97. 
Fat  ewes  often  barren,  178. 
Fattening  sucking  lambs,  128. 

sheep  and  lambs  in  winter,  238. 

weaned  lambs  in  feed-lot.  255. 
Feeders,  buying  in  stock  yards,  2^3. 
Feeding  in  the  corn  belt,  272. 

on  grass,  141. 

pure-bred  stock  lambs,  127. 

stock  lambs,  13t. 

the  nursing  ewe,  118 
Feed  racks,  how  made,  276. 
Feet,  care  of,  182. 
Foot  rot,  foot  scald,  183. 
Fresh  air  for  ewes  necessary,  106. 
Gains  in  feeding  sheep,  304. 
Garget,  induced  by  overfeeding,  122. 

treatment  of,  3I6. 

instances  of,  318. 
Gasoline  for  worms,  337. 
Gestation,  time  of,  100. 
Getting  the  flock  home,  90. 
Goats,  proflt  from,  344. 

milking,  357. 

milking,  breeds  of,  361. 

milking,  care  of.  359. 

use  of  in  old  world,  358. 

yield  of  in  milk,  35i». 
Grub  in  the  head,  319. 

Hsemonchu^  con  tortus  (stomach  worm),  326, 
Hamoshires,  40. 

Harvesting  peas  in  Colorado,  261. 
Hurdling  in  England,  1-.6. 
Inbreedmg  to  flx  type,  85. 
Incestuoi.s  breeding,  86. 
Indigestion,  309. 


INDEXo  365 


Infected  pastures,  treatment  of,  34]. 
Invigoration  of  fresh  blood,  86. 
Lambliood's  troubles,  133. 
Lambing  tent,  186. 

attention  at,  113. 

management  to  secure  good,  104. 
Lambs,  late,  management  of,  138,  185. 

feeding  when  very  young,  134. 

making  ewe  own,  116. 

reviving  when  chilled,  1!5.  • 

born  with  too  large  frame,  cause,  105 
Leicesters,  43. 
Lincolns,  45. 
Liver  rot,  330. 
Losses  in  feed  lot,  389,  304. 
Long  wools,  43. 

Management  to  insure  healthy  flocks,  159. 
Marking.  201. 
Mating,  98. 

Merinos,  Delaine,  American,  Spanish,  35,  33. 
Mexican  lambs  in  feed  lot,  214. 
Milking  ewes,  large,  care  of,  116. 
Mutton  breeds,  30. 

New  England,  freedom  from  parasitic  enemies,  156. 
New  Mexican  sheep,  -^06.  307. 
New  Mexico,  management  of  flocks  in,  209. 
Nodular  disease,  331, 167. 

Nomadic  herds  destroy  forests  and  scatter  scab,  219. 
Northwestern  plains  country,  219. 
Number  of  ewes  for  arable  farms,  165. 
Oats  for  grazing,  171. 
Origin  of  breeds,  21. 

(Orphan  lambs,  making  ewes  own  them,  118. 
Outlook  for  sheep  feeding,  297. 

hopeful,  235. 
Oxfords,  41. 
Parasites,  152. 

on  the  ranges,  220. 

dangerous  in  shade  of  trees  and  fences,  145. 
Pasturing  fattening  lambs,  290. 

off  corn  and  rape,  269. 

system  of  to  avoid  worm  infection,  16i. 

change  of  to  make  fat  sheep,  157. 
Pea  refuse  for  fattening,  297. 

fed  lambs,  amount  of  gain  per  acre,  262,  263o 

feeding  in  Colorado,  356. 
Pens  for  lambing  ewes.  110. 
Persian-Merino  ewes  in  California,  59. 
Persian  sheep,  55. 
Pregnant  ewes,  care  of,  103. 
Proflts  in  wether  feeding,  299. 
Protein  necessary  in  lamb  feeding,  284, 
Pumpkins,  180. 
Rambouillets,  26. 
Ram,  use  of,  101. 

management  of,  100. 

on  the  range,  223. 

for  the  range,  where  bred,  224. 
Ranching,  proflts  of,  234. 
Range  management,  210. 

diseases  on,  213. 

conditions,  the  trail  herds,  215 


366  INDEX. 


Range  management  injured  by  nomadic  herds,  216. 

herds  in  the  mountains,  217. 

sheep,  quality  compared  with  Argentine  sheep,  237. 
Ransom,  Dr.  B.  H.,  work  on  stomach  worms,  326. 
Rape,  178. 
Ration  for  baby  lambs,  132. 

for  mature  sheep,  300. 
Recording  pure-bred  sheep,  205. 
Regularity  essential  in  feeding,  285. 
Restocking  a  farm.  72. 
Ripening  feeding  lambs,  time  required,  287. 
Roots  in  the  ration,  121. 
Rye,  vetches  and  clover,  168. 
Salt  on  grass.  142. 

for  fattening  lambs.  279. 
San  Luis  Valley  (Colorado)  methods.  258. 
Scab,  not  necessary  on  the  range.  231. 
Scotland,  sheep  on  the  Lammermoor  hills,  52. 
Screenings,  feeding,  271. 
Self-feeders  for  screenings,  266 

for  old  sheep,  303. 

use  of  on  pasture  and  in  barn,  291. 
Self-feeding  corn  crib,  303. 
Selecting  a  ram,  74. 

ewes,  88. 
Shade  in  summer,  142. 

best  if  in  barn,  144. 
Shearing,  early.  192. 

art  of,  193. 

fattening  lambs,  286. 

machines,  195. 

on  the  range,  230. 

twice  a  year,  198. 
"Sheep  Herders" '  a  maligned  lot,  232. 

heroism  of,  233. 
Shepherds'  duties  at  lambing  on  range,  226. 
Shipping  dressed  lambs,  137. 
Shropshires.  37. 
Silage  for  fattening  lambs,  287. 

milking  ewes,  120. 
Sore  eyes  and  mouths  in  lambs,  123. 
Sore  feet  in  Western  lambs,  283. 
Sore  mouths  in  feeder  lambs,  280. 
Southdowns,  35. 
Southern  mountain  ewes,  71. 
Soy  beans  for  sheep,  133. 
Spanish  Merinos,  25. 
Spring  lambs,  marketing,  146. 
Starting  the  babies  on  feed,  131 

lambs  on  c<)rn.  283. 

a  healthful  flock,  339. 

on  feed,  278. 
Starvation,  314. 
Stomach  worms,  treatment  of,  155,  324,  334. 

preventing  infection,  329,  331. 
Summer  care  and  management,  151. 
Tapeworms,  322. 
Tattoo  mark.  202. 
Ticks  and  scab,  91. 
Trough  for  young  lambs,  131. 
Tuberculosis,  315. 
Tunis  breed,  55. 


INDEX.  367 


Turn  sickness,  309,  310. 
Type,  how  evolved.  77,  78. 

fixing,  83. 
Ventilation  of  feeding  barn,  275. 
Vitality  of  prime  importance,  87. 
Vitality  of  range-born  lambs,  225. 
Washing,  191,  192. 

"Water  belly,"  stoppage  of  urine,  313. 
Water  for  baby  lambs,  133. 

in  hurdling  system,  166. 
Watering  troughs,  how  made,  276. 
Weaning,  149. 
Wethers  in  feed-yard,  298. 
Wheat  bran  for  lambs,  280. 
Wind  breaks  for  feed-yards,  302. 
Wool,  tying  up.  195. 
Worms,  inf  3ction  of,  160. 


Farm  Buildings 


THIS    BOOK    WILL    BE 
FOUND  VERY  VALUABLE 


It  does  not  take  up  the  question  of  farm  dwellings  or 

residences,    but    in   respect   to  general  farm  barns, 

horse   barns,  general  cattle  barns,  dairy  barns, 

sheep  barns,  hog  pens,  poultry  houses,  silos, 

feed    racks,   fencing,   gates,  etc,   it   is 

replete  with  interesting    plans 

and    descriptions, 


NOT  THEORY,  BUT  ACTUAL  CONSTRUCTION. 

Every  Plan  Shown  is  in  Actual  Use. 


A  chapter  on  CEMENT  CONSTRUCTION 
^A^ill  be  found  of  special  value. 

310  Pages.      513  Illustrations. 
Price,  $2,  Postpaid. 


Address   SANDERS   PUBLISHING  CO., 
358  Dearborn  St.,  Chicago. 

We  always  send  books  and  merchandise  by  prepaid  express  whenever 
it  is  possible  for  us  to  do  so.  If,  therefore,  books  do  not  reach  you  through 
the  mails,  make  inquiry  of  your  express  agent. 


^iiiiliiiii 


